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.
During the history of the United States there have been very respectable speakers Martin Luther King Jr. John F. Kennedy but perhaps no greater leader in American history came to addressing the country like Abraham Lincoln. In his Second Inaugural Address, Lincoln gave a short speech concerning the effect of the Civil War and his own personal vision for the future of the nation. In this speech Lincoln uses many different rhetorical strategies to convey his views of the Civil War to his audience.
Compare how the speakers (JFK and Tim Collins) shape their language to create a sense of voice The inaugural speech, presented by John F. Kennedy, and the ‘Eve of battle’ speech, presented by Tim Collins, can both be analysed for the similarities and also differences, comparing how the speakers shape their language specifically to create a sense of voice. The instantly recognisable difference between the two texts is the genre. The speech by John F. Kennedy (JFK) is his inaugural address.
For my speaker and speech analysis assignment, I chose JFK’s inaugural address speech. I chose this speech because I think he has an interesting story and with this speech, he inspired a great amount of optimism and patriotism in America. It is often considered one of our country’s most important speeches. In my analysis, I will be focusing on JFKs background, and many aspects of his speech including his delivery, organizational, persuasive and rhetorical techniques.
The Civil War was a time period of social, political, and economic tensions. The North and South fought to decide whether to stop or continue slavery. Abraham Lincoln, the then president, addresses the two crowds before and after the war; however, in the second address, after the war, he uses specific literary devices to convey his message, of the need to end slavery. Abraham Lincoln uses varied sentence structure and appeals, in his succinct Second Inaugural Speech, to try to bring back harmony in the states and the abolitionment of slavery. Abraham Lincoln uses varied sentence structure to emphasize his message of harmony and abolition of slavery.
On March 4, 1841, President William Henry Harrison gave the longest inaugural speech in American history. In summary, President Harrison’s speech mainly discussed how the people of the United States has the rights to individual liberties and how it is the duty of the president to protect those liberties through the Constitution. Specifically, the speech went into great detail about how the president should consult with everyone, like the Senate and House of Representatives, before making a huge executive decision. In general, Harrison's goal was to bring the country together through the use of the Constitution and individual rights.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s State of the Union Address in the year 1942 opened with a powerful start. He remained good in posture, strong verbal skills, gestures and strong eye contact with his audience which goes to show confidence and being in control of your speech (Stephen D. Boyd, 2017). He addressed the Americans, the citizens of the United States before he mentioned anything. He went to show that the President, himself found faith in their spirits and how he was merely proud of his citizens. He presented a powerful statement to his audience by acknowledging them and according to Matt Eventoff, “a statement or phrase can catch the audience’s attention by keeping them guessing as to what you’re about to say next.
“He understood that the destiny of the new nation was in the hands of the people.” George Washington takes on the life and challenges of becoming the first president and serving the newly developed country. Along the way, American Journey shares that Washington creates over ten precedents, one of those the ever-important Inaugural Address, and the many grueling challenges he faces while serving his terms. George Washington sets many precedents over his years of serving that still present themselves today. More than ten to be exact.
FDR’s speech affected many people in several different ways. People in the American military may see this speech as endearing and inspirational because of the struggles they faced directly at the hands of the Japanese. Those of Japanese descent living in the United States might have felt either shame or great honor in the speech. It all depends on how loyal they were to Japan or the US. People in Hawaii may have felt scared that Japan attacked on their home land, but empowered by the speech because of how FDR said that “....this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.”
It would be more than difficult not to read Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address without some sense of pride or honor for one’s own country. He brings about a call to civility among all citizens striving for unity and harmony with one another. Lincoln understood the dilemma that slavery became for not only the Northerners attempting to abolish the practice entirely, but also for the Southerners perpetuating it in the first place. The fact that there was a faction rising in favor of slavery on a scale that would divide the country indefinitely and that Lincoln foresaw this danger demonstrates the level of prudence he was able to acquire up until his presidency. In this address, Lincoln stressed the importance of the nation staying unified and true to the principles set by
John F. Kennedy uses literary devices to capture the attention of the audience, sets himself equal to his audience getting their attention and support, and uses the christian religion to strike the emotions and gain the support of his audience. Kennedy uses many literary devices to catch the attention of his audience. One of these devices is repetition. One example of repetition that Kennedy uses is, “Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us.
Bill Clinton is known as one of the most powerful speakers in the United States, and he impresses his audience by his speeches and the rhetorical devices that he includes in his speeches and addresses. For example, he effectively delivers his inaugural address with a convincing tone and some of the rhetorical devices such as allusions and strong diction. In his 1993 inaugural address, Clinton discussed the issues that America faced in the 20th century such as health care costs and low wages. He mentioned that these issues are not solved because America has not “made changes” and made progress to solve the conflicts and restore the economy. Because of this, Clinton knew it was important to ensure that all of the nation was behind him, and if
In his inaugural speech given on January 20, 2001, George W. Bush address the country for the first time after being sworn in as the 43rd president of the United States. Millions of people from around the world tuned in to watch the president give his address. The people who voted for and against him are both wanting to hear what the president has to say. George W. Bush gives an effective inaugural address by using biblical allusions, collaborative language, and an anaphora in order to unite the country after a contentious election. Bush used biblical allusions to appeal mostly to the evangelicals who were listening to his speech.
Trump’s Inauguration Donald Trump was sworn into the presidency on January 20 of 2017. He is now the 45th president of the United States. Following a fairly controversial campaign, Trump has his work cut out for him in order to unite the nation during his presidency.
1.0 INTRODUCTION Chilton and Schaffner (2002:2) mention that political activity does not exist without the use of language and language constitute a great proportion of the political activities held. The relationship between language and politics stems from the fact that language can be thought of as a resource which is drawn up on to achieve socio-political goals. For the current assignment my partner and I are doing, we choose five inaugural speeches from five different presidents of America. Inaugural speech is the first speech made by a President at a ceremony which is also called the inauguration.
