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Alliteration In Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

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One month prior to the end of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln gave his Second Inaugural Address. The address, spoken before his second term as president, was intended to give his views on the causes of the Civil War and to list reasons why the war started. In the speech, Lincoln addresses the reasons and causes of the war and tries to bring the North and South together. In order to convince the two to unite once more, Lincoln uses alliteration, allusion, synecdoche, and metonymy to make his point and purpose clear. Lincoln utilizes alliteration in order to achieve his purpose of uniting the two unions together. In the second paragraph, he uses words such as dreaded, delivered, devoted, destroy, dissolve, and divide to draw the …show more content…

In a reference to slave labor, Lincoln states, “... wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces.” This refers to the fact that slave owners do not work for their own food, but the slaves do the labor instead. This reference shows the audience that slavery was a common issue during that time and Lincoln was doing his best to prevent it. The line is another way for Lincoln to mention the effects of the Civil War and continue to persuade his audience to unite once more. In relation to synecdoche, Lincoln uses metonymy to convey his message to the audience. Lincoln states, “every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword,” to show that the war would not officially end until the soldiers experienced what the slaves dealt with. He does this in order to to show that slavery cannot end without unification of the two unions. He also alludes to the fact that the war will not end without justice being given to the slaves. To unite the nation, Lincoln used alliteration, allusion, and synecdoche in his Second Inaugural Speech. By using rhetoric, Lincoln attempts to achieve his purpose of uniting the North and South. He appealed to the emotions of his audience to successfully convince them to

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During Abraham Lincoln’s presidency at the start of the 1860, an issue that had divided the nation was slavery. Lincoln’s election to presidency as a republic was not received well by the Southern slave states, as they thought that as a republican he was out to abolish slavery. In an effort to calm southern states and keep them from seceding from the United States, he attempts to ease them with his First Inaugural Address. In his First Inaugural Address his key points are to clam southern leaders of slave states, keep the states from seceding, and make them at ease as he enters presidency.

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In his Second Inaugural Address, President Abraham Lincoln addressed the topic of the Civil War and argued that the nation needed to change. He supported his claim with parallel structure to highlight the differences between the North and South, then mentioning biblical references to express the importance of religion, and finally the diction he used helped join the citizens together. President Lincoln’s purpose was to express the similarities between the North and South in order to unify the country once again. He uses a critical, yet hopeful tone towards the Americans of both the North and South. Just one month before the end of the Civil War, President Lincoln gave his Second Inaugural Address in the hopes of reuniting the country once

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In his Second Inaugural Address speech by Abraham Lincoln, incorporates biblical references and compares the North and South in order to bring them together and unite the country. Lincoln indirectly questions the ethics behind owning slaves by referring to the bible and reveals the South using God as an excuse for racism. Quoting the bible, Lincoln concludes that “He now wills to remove” implying that God wishes to abolish slavery. The former president convoys God to have “his own purposes” suggesting to leave the war in God's hands.

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To begin, President Lincoln strengthens his points by using parallel structure in paragraph by exclaiming “All dreaded it, all sought to avert it”. By stating this, Lincoln brings together the two very distinct viewpoints by showing that both wanted to advert and stray from the war, knowing neither could due to previous circumstances. Parallel structure entails unification of the two sides of the battle, uniting them through a relatable idea and overall accomplishing the goal of his inaugural address, bonding the confederacy and the union back together. Another example of his use of parallel structure includes his expansion upon the idea that neither side wanted to start the war: “Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict may cease…the conflict itself should cease.” Lincoln indicates that he understands both

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