The entirety of Lincoln's speech is based on a specific quote from Matthew 12:25 in the Bible, in which Jesus says, "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand." By doing this, Lincoln hopes to establish credibility in the rest of his speech, because it's basis is the Bible. However, Lincoln does not use the quote in the way that is expected of a straightforward quote from the Bible. The quote could have easily been used to put the message that if the country doesn’t resolve its’ issues on slavery then the country will be consumed by chaos and the country will fall, but Lincoln immediately says that he does not expect or want the Union to end. He makes it seem
Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address Rhetorical Analysis The purpose of this speech is detailed in the time period. This speech was written/spoken at the end of the American Civil war. It is President Lincoln’s way of putting a tentative end to the war and a start to the recovery period. He is still oppressing the south in his diction when he states “Both parties deprecated war: but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish.
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.
President Abraham Lincoln uses a variety of rhetorical strategies in his Second Inaugural Address to pose an argument to the American people regarding the division in the country between the northern states and the southern states. Lincoln gives this address during the American Civil War, when politics were highly debated and there was a lot of disagreement. Lincoln calls for the people of America to overcome their differences to reunite as one whole nation once more. Lincoln begins his Second Inaugural Address by discussing the American Civil War and its ramifications.
When President Lincoln was first elected, he was put in a difficult situation. Multiple states were in the stages, or already began seceding from the Union. They used the claim of “state rights” and tariffs to disguise their true intentions; to expand and protect the institution of slavery. Shortly after Lincoln was first inaugurated, the Civil War broke up, bringing neighbors against neighbors, friends against friends and families against families. Near the end of one of the bloodiest wars in the history of the country, Lincoln was elected for a second time.
Lincoln's uses rhetorical strategy throughout his Second Inaugural Address was the use of an appeal to his audience's emotions. This is evident during his entire speech Lincoln continuously revert to religious evidence of some sort to support his claim. He says that although it may seem absurd for slavery's proponents to be allowed to pray to God, that his audience and he should “judge not that [they] be not judged,” alluding to the Lord's Prayer and appealing to his audience's Christian beliefs. He continues religion when talking about the Christians, he states, “Fondly do [they] hope, fervently do
Finally, Lincoln implements Logos Pathos and Ethos in his speech. For instance, “The new year of 1854 found slavery excluded from more than half the States by State Constitutions, and from most of the national territory by congressional prohibition. (Lincoln). Lincoln uses the logical appeal by providing information about past attempts on abolishing slavery. Additionally, the cause must be left in the hands of those who care about the results and whose hearts are involved (Lincoln).
Even though many separate wars, and almost a hundred years separated Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, both leaders had to deal with the America that had split because of it; in their speeches of persuasion, addressing the breaking land, the men used similar literary devices. Despite being born over a century apart, and coming up from vastly different upbringings, both men inspired their countrymen though their inauguration speech. Lincoln, having no proper schooling in his childhood, would teach himself from books he borrowed. There, he learned about literary devices and the art of writing. Even though he campaigned for an idea that half of america hated, and was thought that the people's attention to his speeches would be transient,
Springfield, Illinois is where Abraham Lincoln delivered his concerns about America and the choices the country was making as a whole. It was January of 1838 and Lincoln was just twenty eight years old, but he was ready to address the serious issues within our government. Throughout the speech Lincoln expresses his main concern as the fall of the nation. He speaks about how it is unlikely that America would be killed by external forces but that it could eventually destroy itself from within. He warns that there are vicious people in the world who could do such a thing, and refers to mob crimes as one example of many.
Lincoln 's main rhetorical appeal was the use of emotional language in using word such as dearm , best , last , and hope. Using these words to show how american needs to get back to it roots of why it was formed. To be a safe haven for people who are being persecuted not to persecute people because their look or act different from us. This also appeals you your ethos because irtt saying America’s not where it should be how can you help get it their. I agree at with this quote that at that point in time , but that were better now.
To speak to both the literary and emotional sensibility at the same time, he employs these classical appeals from the beginning of the speech— first shown when he speaks to the America “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” By doing this, he fully engages the audience and connects to them not only as their president but as a man who too had experienced loss because of this war. By acknowledging the painful and emotional experience felt by Americans, he can effectively close on how America will survive such as he has already won the audiences’ trust through the ethos. Lincoln claims, regardless of what is said that day, that “it is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Full of pathos and simplistic but passionate diction, he motivates the American people to commit to a secure, safe, and unified America.
American Civil War historian, James M. McPherson, in his essay How Lincoln Won the War with Metaphors, argues that if the Union and the Confederacy had exchanged presidents the Confederacy might have won the war. He supports his claim by comparing and contrasting Jefferson Davis’s lack of ability to communicate in an uplifting fashion to Abraham Lincoln’s use of figurative language, especially his metaphors that have the persuasive power of concreteness and clarity which everyone understands and by providing numerous examples of Lincolns metaphors. McPherson’s purpose is to demonstrate how Lincoln was a powerful leader due to his ability to communicate in an inspiring way and appeal to the peoples’ emotions through his use of figurative language
On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln gave a speech that, unbeknownst to him, would become one of the most recognized speeches in the history of the United States. The empowering speech was given in the midst of the gruesome civil war that began between the north and the south over the long-conflicted morality of slavery. Through one of the most highly remembered speeches of our history, The Gettysburg Address, Lincoln commemorates the dead and wounded soldiers at the site of the battle in Gettysburg through references to history, unificating diction and metaphors of life and death to unite the nation in a time of separation and provide a direction for the future of the country. Lincoln begins his essay utilizing historical references in order to illustrate to the public the basis of what the nation was founded upon. Through this, he reminds Americans the morals and ideals that the people are willing to spill blood for.
Abraham Lincoln in the speech, The Gettysburg Address, constructs a point of achieving a "just and lasting peace" between the North and South without retribution. Lincoln supports his assertion by justifying his beliefs of unity between the states. Lincoln's purpose is to influence the people to not allow what has been done to go to waste. He wants his audience to realize that this division will only persist if no one settles the current issues in society. Lincoln speaks in a sympathizing, determined tone to address the Americans who are mourning the loss of their loved ones and to the rest of Americans who he wants to see a change from.
Gettysburg Address Rhetorical Devices In Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” he is speaking to the very emotional nation after many people had just died during the Civil War, he needed to speak to nation to remind them that the sacrifices made by those in the Civil War will not be forgotten and that they must continue with what the war was fought for. He first starts off by referring to how the nation was started then continues to discuss the losses that have occurred from the Civil War and why they should move on while still remembering what the war was fought for. His strong use of rhetorical devices emphasises the goals they must aim for and reassures the nation that they are together in reconstruction by referring to events from the war to
