Abraham Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address on March 4, 1865 - a speech which was both concise and unorthodox. However, through rhetorical strategies such as the inclusion of his listener’s intellect and the alleviation of blame, Lincoln creates a powerful connection to his audience, helping him achieve his purpose of bringing unity to the divided and weary post-Civil War United States. An example of Lincoln’s absolute mastery of rhetoric can be seen in the very first paragraph of his speech. There, he begins his entire address by referencing his previous Inaugural, at which point “a statement, somewhat in detail, of a course to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper”. Lincoln provides self-analytical reasoning, conceding since “public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point”, “little that is new could be presented” and “there is less occasion for an extended address” at the time of his second inaugural. Lincoln prefaces his second inaugural with an acknowledgement that it will be terse, and provides reasoning. Surely this is gratuitous? Should he not simply deliver his speech? However, had he done that, he would not …show more content…
Instead of declaring anything along the lines of “they begun a war”, Lincoln says that “the war came”, making it the fault of the war itself. Along these lines, Lincoln cites slavery as the cause of the war as opposed to blaming the slaveholders or the Southerners directly when he says “slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was, somehow, the cause of this war”. Lincoln place the blame on the entities of slavery or war itself, and not the participants of the war. This would serve to alleviate guilt, weariness, and anger from many Americans and make them more susceptible to peace and