Rhetorical Analysis Of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

Abraham Lincoln once gave a speech so riveting that any member of the press present neglected to record the speech, as they were so transfixed by his message. This is referred to as “Lincoln’s lost speech” because there are no known recordings of it. It is widely considered by historians to be a brutal condemnation of slavery. This speech is in direct contrast with his second inaugural address. In his lost speech, he shocked his listeners almost into submission by delivering such a powerful message about the evils of slavery; but in his inaugural address, he is all for reconciliation with the very organization which sponsored slavery in the first place. Lincoln’s diction and parallel structure indicate that he wanted the South to not feel offended,

He states “All dreaded it, all sought to avert it”. Lincoln in no way needed to do this. He very well could have delivered a forty minute victory speech, but instead uses phrases like these to place the South on equal footing with the North, in an attempt to get the Northerners to understand the Southerners. He also used parallel structure when he stated “Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh”. He is using this parallel structure to bring the North down to the South, in that both parties must share the burden of the war. He is attempting to establish common ground between Northerners and Southerners by talking about whose burden the horrible war is. He is claiming that it is both sides—reinforcing the belief that America is still one community. This is also heavily indicated by his purposefully vague or objective

Everybody in the north and most people in the south knew exactly who caused the civil war. Yet, despite the overwhelming evidence Lincoln had at his disposal, he refused to aggressively accuse the south of being greedy racist slavers. The civil war had almost ended, there was absolutely no reason for him to not call himself the winner. When he states, “encouraging to all” or “Neither party” or “Neither anticipated” or “Each Looked” or “Both read” he is attempting to show all the similarities between the two different groups of people. Although he could have gloated and insulted the losers, he instead tried to become their friends. This ties back to his original purpose. Abraham Lincoln would have given a very different speech had the south have nothing to offer the north. The North had more power at this time, but only because of the amazing agricultural estates of the South. His diction is an attempt to remain objective, in the hopes that others will become objective as well, and therefore, more willing to fix the broken bond between the