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Summary Of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

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Lincoln’s “Second Inaugural Address” was “itself a kind of leaf out of the book of the prophets”. He employed not only reason, but also revelation and God’s word to help articulate a vision of the Union’s plans, for the past injustices, the present war, and the future. Lincoln delivered his Second Inaugural in a time where the past was yet to be finished and the future foreboding. His focus of the speech was to “point away from war and towards reunion”. Lincoln wanted to focus on the nation’s next phase: justice and healing. Lincoln argued the true cause of the war was slavery, a moral evil that not only belonged to the South, but the nation in its entirety. The unavoidable war served as punishment from God for the institution of American …show more content…

A reunion required both justice and charity. Lincoln spoke, “with malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right”. He alludes to Ephesians 4:30-32 at the end of his “Second Inaugural Address”, which explained how the Union should embark on their onward journey. Through God’s justice, the Union, including both the North and South, “became equal and restored to justice”, which allowed for the ushering in of the new birth of freedom Lincoln envisioned in his “Gettysburg Address”. Justice for the evils of slavery had been satisfied by God’s divine interjection in the actions of the war. There was enough bloodshed during the war, which purged further necessity for revenge from either side. The passage reads, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” The divine satisfaction for revenge allowed for the nation to continue on free from the bonds of bitterness, wrath, anger, and evil. Lincoln wished to welcome the South back into the Union with open arms, forgiving them just as God forgave man. The reunion allowed the people to join together to focus on the healing of the nation’s wounds. The final work for the Union was dependent on the healing process of the nation. This cultivated a just and lasting peace, which would aid in piecing the Union back together. As a reunited nation, the people could live in accordance to the political religion of the land. The end of the war ushered in the period of Reconstruction, an eleven-year referendum on the meaning of the Civil War. Lincoln, an instrument of

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