ipl-logo

Rhetorical Analysis Of Lincoln's First Inaugural Address

2265 Words10 Pages

Lincoln’s Rhetoric at his First Inauguration Lincoln’s “first inaugural address” was a final plea for unity before four more states would secede from the union and begin the most devastating war in our nations history. In this essay I will show the various rhetorical methods he used, and lay bare the arguments he brought forth over 8 score years ago. Before we get into his speech, however, it’s important to briefly discuss the context in which this speech was taking place. The year was 1861, and debate between the north and south over slavery was approaching its peak. Seven states had already seceded from the union, and six more were waving, and this speech was Lincolns final opportunity to avoid the civil war that had been building since …show more content…

The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend it." I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” The change of the final line from a threat of the sword if they choose to rebel, to a poetic plea for peace that puts the impetus of war on the secessionists, shows more than any other section of the speech that southern acceptance of unity is his ultimate goal. He touches on his previous idea of separating himself from the government, stating that he has a solemn oath to protect it, while maintaining that the government is not the enemy and will not be the aggressor. Even the themes in the last paragraph harken back to an earlier time of unity and enforce Lincolns claim as the embodiment of the founders vision. The mystic chords of memory are remarkably similar to Madison’s many cords of affection the connect all American’s together, and the structure of the argument is nearly identical (Hubbel, 1931, p. 551). It’s with this final plea that Lincoln finishes his speech, and can only hope that it was enough to prevent a catastrophic loss of

Show More
Related

Fort Sumter Essay

557 Words | 3 Pages

“In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine,” he said, “is the momentous issue of civil war.” That sentence epitomizes Abraham Lincoln’s entire approach to the issue of secession. He considered it a constitutional impossibility, and would never officially concede that it had been successfully accomplished. That’s why, when he directly addressed citizens of the states that three weeks before had installed Jefferson Davis as president of what they claimed to be a separate nation, Lincoln still spoke of them as “my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen.” I think that the speech of Abraham Lincoln is more appealing as he did not considered the South as his

Read More

Lincoln's First Inaugural Address Analysis

377 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More

Rhetorical Analysis Of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

467 Words | 2 Pages

Gunnar Olson 7/12/17 Lincoln’s second inaugural address Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address was anchored in the president’s awareness of the Union citizens’ growing anxiety about the grave causes and effects of the then Civil war conflict. In order to compel Union citizens to stay motivated towards this restoration of the Union by excusing Confederate insurgents and seeing through the necessary war, Lincoln transitions between inclusive pronouns to binary diction to capture conflicting and shared beliefs among Americans, as well as allusions to God’s religion to portray the war as repayment for the act of slavery. In his Second Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln surprised his audience by not giving a speech regarding politics, but instead using harsh and then encouraging diction and biblical allusions to inspire Americans and show them that they need to continue to work for peace.

Read More

Rhetorical Analysis Of Lincoln's Inaugural Address

464 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More

Rhetorical Analysis Of Abraham Lincoln's The Second Inaugural Address

889 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

Rhetorical Analysis Of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

717 Words | 3 Pages

During President Lincoln’s second inaugural address, the audience expected the speech to be on politics, slavery, and states’ rights. Instead, the speech was on the effects of civil war and gave his vision for the future of the nation. While doing so, he uses rhetorical strategies to achieve his purpose, which is to convince his audience to unite so they can move forward and fix their broken nation. With Lincoln’s main goal of linking the North and the South into one, he tends to use words such as each, both, neither, we, and us. Even though at the time they were looked at as two separate territories, this is his attempt of verbally joining the two as one, painting a picture of unity so that eventually they can work together to “bind up the nation’s wounds.”

Read More

Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address Rhetorical Analysis

642 Words | 3 Pages

Lincoln urges the people to “strive on to finish the work we are in,” “to bind up the nation's wounds,” he is trying to get the United Sate Citizens to become one again to unite and be one strong country, showing that even after a huge war that the country can remain strong and unified and that this war will allow for a strong brotherhood in the US. Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address is significant because Lincoln offered and objective point of view. Lincoln did not speak of the unloyalty of the South nor did he praise the North. Rather, Lincoln used multiple points to show that the Unification should be the main focus of his speech not that the states should be divided because of

Read More

Examples Of Ethos Pathos Logos

420 Words | 2 Pages

" Lincoln's speech is a masterpiece of rhetorical persuasion. He uses ethos by referring to the founding principles of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution. By referencing these foundational documents, Lincoln established his credibility as a leader and a statesman. He uses logos by arguing that the Civil War was a struggle to preserve the Union and to ensure that "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Finally, he employs pathos by calling on the emotions of the audience.

Read More

An Analysis Of Lincoln's Inaugural Address

409 Words | 2 Pages

The Second inaugural address delivered March 4, 1865 to put slavery to an end. Abraham Lincoln attempt to reason with the south, but the south desired to go to war with the north. Lincoln use a lot a religious belief to demonstrate how all people are the same. Also, Lincoln uses strong descriptive word such as, “...Every drop of blood drawn with the lash... the judgement of the lord, are true and righteous altogether.”

Read More

Rhetorical Analysis Of Abraham Lincoln's Inaugural Address

642 Words | 3 Pages

Abraham Lincoln, the president of the United States addresses the nation on the date of March 4th, 1865, in order to address the Civil War. He responds to the war crisis by stating, and publicizing that the slaves needed to be free before the Civil War occurred. The war, as said by Abraham Lincoln, not only caused a split in unity between the states and citizens, but he also believed it to be a punishment delivered by God because of the treatment of the slaves. Lincoln is able to get his argument across successfully through the use of juxtapositions, allusions religion, and the use of pronouns (at the end of the speech), to create a sense of unity within the country. President Abraham Lincoln does not only address the effects and problems with the Civil War, but also what encouraged the conflict.

Read More

Lincoln's Second Inaugural Speech Analysis

793 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

Rhetorical Analysis Of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

799 Words | 4 Pages

It is seen clearly in his word choice that Lincoln calls for a lasting and fair peace, but not only between the North and South. He also calls the American people to apply this concept of peace with other countries and in foreign policy. Throughout his Second Inaugural Address, President Abraham Lincoln employs a variety of rhetorical strategies to promote unity between Americans. As Lincoln once said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

Read More

Lincoln Second Inaugural Address Analysis

471 Words | 2 Pages

The President of the United states of America, Abraham Lincoln , in his second inaugural address explains to the people of America that “On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation.” Lincoln supports his speech by talking about the past and about everything that led up to the war.

Read More

Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address Rhetorical Analysis Essay

492 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More

Rhetorical Analysis Of The Gettysburg Address

502 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More

More about Rhetorical Analysis Of Lincoln's First Inaugural Address

Related Topics

Open Document