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Abraham lincoln's first inaugural speech analysis
Lincoln's 2nd inaugural address analytical essay
Lincoln's 2nd inaugural address analytical essay
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On March 4, 1865 in Washington, D.C., President Abraham Lincoln gave his second inauguration address to the nation. In his address to the nation he stated what he would do for the nation during his presidency and tried to prepare the nation for the end of the civil war and slavery. President Lincoln used figurative language, allusion, parallel structure, logos and pathos to express his theme that both sides are at fault and need to come together as one. Lincoln uses the rhetorical appeals pathos and logos during his second inauguration speech.
Lincoln’s election to the presidency in 1860 aroused the Southern slave states. Those states saw the Republicans as people who were not supportive of keeping the institution of slavery alive in the South. Lincoln effectively demonstrates why the south should not fear if he were to be president. Lincoln wanted to calm the leaders of these states and keep them from seceding from the United States, so he tried to put them at ease in his “First Inaugural Address”.
President Abraham Lincoln, in his inaugural address, addresses the topic of the civil war and its effects on the nation and argues that America could be unified once more. He supports his claim by using massive amounts of parallel structure and strong word choice. Lincoln ‘s purpose is to contemplate the effects of the civil war in order to unite the broken America once again. He adopts a very hopeful tone for his audience, the readers of the inaugural address and others interested in the topic of American history and the civil war.
Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address was a short but very strong message to a country that was already tired of the war. According to that message, the main reason that Civil War started were slaves. It was not a secret that about one-eighth of the population of America were black slaves who were localized in the south of the Union. In the south part almost everyone were interested in having a black slaves because there were some reasons in that. To begin with, black slaves were free workers, and that was a good option to run a business.
Fighting for equality was a relevant theme in early America; however, fighting was only half the struggle, once you won what happened next was up to the leaders of the new system. In Abraham Lincoln’s speech “ The Second Inaugural Address”, America is nearing the end of the civil war and Lincoln explains what should happen next as their victory approaches. Through the use of rhetorical strategies such as diction, allusion, and syntax the audience connects to Lincoln and his statements while understanding the great capability of America. Throughout Lincolns Speech he often times alludes to references the general population knows about so they can connect to him and his statements while receiving a greater knowledge of his purpose.
Imagine, a man with a tall hat going up to the podium. The words coming out of his mouth increases the audience inspiration every second. Abraham Lincoln had a way with words, his best being shown through the Second Inaugural address and the Gettysburg address. Furthermore, these two documents had a special meaning at that time as well as today. The documents will be presented in a manner of similarities and differences, through purpose, syntax and rhetorical devices.
I originally forgot to consider the European power factor in his timing and urgency, and do agree it was a strong factor in his timing. I believe more influential were the internal factors of keeping the union bonded together and not polarizing the issue that was already so much a point of contention among the Union and border states. Also I strongly agree that Lincoln was a genius in placing clear motivational distinction between the Union and Confederate, by making the North for freedom and the South against it. He intentionally made the divide bigger to motivate the Union to continue in a long war.
In his inaugural address he said “no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with slavery in the States where it exists” (History) and he reiterated that sentiment three months after the start of the war. The war would rage on for another two years and growing cries from his party calling for him to take action. The Republican Party argued that the emancipation was a “military necessity and that it would weaken the Confederacy and correspondingly strengthen the Union.” By the fall of 1862, the tide of the war had shifted to the south and Lincoln realized that decisive actions were necessary. Lincoln would say to his cabinet “We must free the slaves or be ourselves subdued….
Rhetorical Situation Speaker: 1. Who is speaking The speaker in the second Inaugural address is Abraham Lincoln. 2. Why was this person chosen to speak?
The second inauguration address of Abraham Lincoln is as powerful as it is brief. He wrote a speech prompting for the end of the Civil War and the lasting vision he has for the future of the Union. Throughout the speech he uses comparisons, religion, and the moral high ground to move and rally the nation split over four years of civil war. Lincoln compares the response and lengths the North and South would go to obtain their interests. The slaves, to the South, were a “peculiar and powerful interest” since it greatly supported the Southern economy through the cotton industry.
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.
I agree with him because a lot of people that were in a high social also political standing such as Lincoln were supposed to speak long speeches using grammar and complex words. After all Lincoln spoke in common language so the people could understand it better also gave a short speech stating the importance and gravity of the situation
The 16th president of the united states, Abraham Lincoln in his second inaugural address, Lincoln states that though the first inaugural speech was important, there was an even more important topic at hand now. He talks about how even with the war coming to an end, blacks and whites are still be treated differently and he is very against this. He first supports his claim by saying that blacks and whites are equal by that they pray to the same God and pray the same prayers yet they are not equal in the eyes of society. He then goes on to say that in the end God will judge us all the same. Lincoln’s purpose of this statement is to say that he is against inequality in order to make a country that is not at ends with each other over the color of someone 's skin.
Slavery had been a central issue in the United States since the founding of the country when the Founding Fathers As the U.S. moved closer to war, it became more divided by its attitudes, interests, and general lifestyles. Although sectionalism, the loyalty to interests of a particular region over the country, can be traced to the earliest years of the new nation, it became more of an obstacle in the 19th century as Americans began to see themselves as either Southerners or Northerners. Although sectional discord was an important factor leading to the onset of war, at its core was the division and conflicts related to slavery. This is seen with a brief examination of the election of 1860.
Lincoln’s main purpose was freedom, and the blacks began to search for identity. On 1 January 1863, “Lincoln proclaimed that the freedom of all slaves in rebellious regions was now a Union war aim- ‘an act of justice’ as well as ‘military necessity’
