Similarities Between The Union And The Confederacy

The Civil War tore apart the United States of America in the bloodiest four years of the nation’s history. Though many motifs illustrating the heartbreak of the war made their way into popular culture after its conclusion, one of the most prevalent ideas illustrated the confusion family units experienced as the war pulled varying members of the family in different ideological directions, described most concretely as “brother against brother.” The disunion felt at the familial level paralleled the lack of unity on the national scale, leaving President Abraham Lincoln with the task of bringing the nation back together. Around his second election, both the Union and Confederacy were suffering from the effects of a prolonged war — increasingly

However, the animosity between the two sides simmered beneath the surface of this exhaustion, and neither group felt entirely ready to abandon arms in light of peace. Thus, in his second inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln compels the ravaged people of the United States to abandon their animosity and use their shared sorrows as a source of unity. Lincoln highlights the similarities between the Union and the Confederacy to show them that unification overpowers separation. When appealing to the public, Lincoln exclusively uses indefinite pronouns, compelling both the Union and Confederacy to consider their shared characteristics. He clarifies that “all” had not only dreaded the war, but “sought to avert it,” partially absolving the Confederacy of complete blame for the Civil War. The basic unity that Lincoln describes forces both groups to consider their deepest desires as human beings, and come to the basic realization that their initial desires had been identical. Furthermore, Lincoln employs parallel structure throughout the comparisons, allowing

Though his speech is fervent with allusions to the Bible, when describing the judgement brought by the Civil War, he alludes to the Old Testament with the statement that ,”the judgements of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” The allusion conjures images of a God that judged where the New Testament God forgave, and punished when his people sinned. Thus, Lincoln conveys the idea that, ultimately, God brought the war upon them, and they were to pay for the nation’s sins together. In addition, though Lincoln employs the passive voice throughout much of his speech, when describing the war he uses active voice. Rather than burdening either side with the weight of bringing the war, Lincoln states that “the war came,” giving it an omnipotent, self-aware nature. The idea of a war coming, rather than being brought by either the Confederacy or the Union helps them put aside their differences, and furthers the perception of themselves as victims. In addition, the concept fluidly coincides with that of the judging God, both spurring images of war being by entities outside of either side’s control. Though Lincoln does not attempt to completely erase the Confederacy’s part in causing the war, he wishes to inform both sides that any attempts to prevent it would have been