Rhetorical Devices In Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

In Abraham Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural Address to the nation, he delivers a surprisingly short but extremely effective speech to a country deeply divided in the midst of a civil war. The “Great Emancipator” uses a myriad of rhetorical strategies throughout his address, with the hopes that this moving delivery will help mend fences on the path to a unified nation. Lincoln begins his Inaugural Address with a passive voice. He reminds his fellow listeners that: "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, and the war came” (line 24-27). His wording here is not accusatory. Although some later, subtle suggestions of the South’s instigation

He simply states that “the war came”, and not who brought it among the country. Therefore, Lincoln chooses not to focus on who is to blame, but rather declare the war as unwanted and equally devastating for both parties. Soon after, Lincoln starts to incorporate religious references into his address. The audience is reminded of their shared religion, with the statement that: “Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invoked His aid against the other” (line 42-44). This unifying note provides proof that even though the North and South seemed to be greatly divided, they both pray and worship the same God. Lincoln goes on with saying that it is God, not the Union or the Confederacy, that brought upon the Civil War. He claims that it is their punishment for slavery that their creator forced such a devastating event among them. By associating the cause of the war – and all its devastation – with that of the Divine, Lincoln brings forth not a single feeling of

He calls upon the American people to: “strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan” (line 72-74). A string of imperative phrases create a demand for change to be seen. Many strong imperatives lift the audience with a sense of empowerment in the hope that the whole nation could achieve this feat together. Therefore, the strategy appeals to the audience’s responsibility to act for their nation’s cause. Along with the imperatives, Lincoln incorporates inclusive diction as well. He states that: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with the firmness in the right as God gives us to see his right […] to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations” (line 70-76). By the use of the words “none”, “all”, and “us”, there is no indication of any disunity that he wishes to see, but instead establishing a similarity of the sides. A spark in reunification is what currently needs to take place in order to end this war. With this, Lincoln drives it home with expressing that the only way out of this divided devastation is the coming together of the North and the South. With the use of imperative phrases and inclusive diction, Lincoln passionately attempts to mend the two broken pieces in this puzzle for