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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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