Lincoln’s purpose of delivering the Second Inaugural Address was to use as a reminder that the issue of slavery played a huge part in the Civil War. He used his address to advise everyone that God was offended and it brought punishment to the nation as a whole. Now that peace is present, he told his listeners that they should use this as a time for a national reconciliation. Lincoln offered hope that they could rise above the sin and suffering to become a strong nation again. Lincoln’s argument in the Second Inaugural Address was the fact that both sides were counting on God for his assistance. The south actually wanted God’s blessing to continue slavery. They were seeking his help to justify this practice. Lincoln brings it to everyone’s attention that God will not answer both sides. He was showing that there will always …show more content…
Being in a position of power, like Lincoln you vow to follow the US constitution. Taking that vow left Lincoln in a rough spot. He disliked slavery but he could not act on his own beliefs. Lincoln was left to follow the steps to make a stand and do the right thing. He managed to stop and put an end to slavery but that came with time. They suffered with war which to Lincoln was the punishments for both the North and South. The North may not of practiced slavery it’s self but they are still to be punished for condoning it. As Lincoln address in his writing the Entire Nation was to be punished. Lincoln states, “If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to