Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address

Abraham Lincoln delivered a speech on March 4, 1861. It reiterated his promise not to interfere with the institution of slavery in the United States and affirmed the rights of states to order and determined their own institutions. According to document A by Abraham Lincoln (First Inaugural Address) says “Exist among people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican Administration their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered”.In his First Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln explained why his duty as the newly-elected president required him to treat secession as an act of rebellion and not a legitimate political action. Nothing less than the survival of self-government was at stake. As the duly elected president, Lincoln believed that majority rule constrained by “constitutional checks” and informed by public opinion was “the only true sovereign of a

Lincoln’s presidency is typically characterized by the abolition of slavery. While important, it often overshadows other objectives he had for the country. After Lincoln issued The Emancipation Proclamation, he had new plans for America. Lincoln weaved rhetorical strategies into his second inaugural address to promote his vision for the future of the nation. As Civil War was nearing an end, Lincoln’s goal was to create a unified nation of peace. He hoped the Union and Confederacy could put aside their differences and hatreds and reestablish harmony.

When Abraham Lincoln won the presidency in 1860 the Union was divided. He accepted his presidential duties knowing that he was working with a nation that no longer remained united. Seven of the southern states had already seceded from the Union and were beginning to refer to themselves as the Confederates. What he had now were free states and slave states. When Lincoln gave his Inaugural Address he attempted to do so in a way that would not dissuade his chances of gaining support in the southern states, especially when it involved the institution of slavery. However, he also made it clear in his address that he believed a secure and united nation was of utmost importance and he rejected the ideas

Abraham Lincoln wrote second Inaugural Address in March 1865. I believe he wrote it because the cause of the civil war was slavery, since he blames that God was a cause of the Civil War and slavery. Lincoln also wanted the North and south to put aside their issues that divide them in order to heal their “broken arms”.

Language plays a crucial role in the development of power. Famous personalities in the United States use rhetorical devices to emphasize a specific point and make it clear to the audience. President Thomas Jefferson is a Democratic-Republican and won the election of 1800. In 1801 he presented his inauguration speech and was significant because it was the first time in the history when the power shifted from one party to the other. Martin Luther King, Jr. served as an American minister and played an active role in the civil rights movement. John F. Kennedy delivered his speech during his inauguration in order to develop relations with the Soviet Union and end Cold War. All the speeches were delivered by most known personalities and made use of rhetorical devices such as allusion and repetition to make their message memorable in the hearts of the citizens of America.

“The pattern of the prodigal is: rebellion, ruin, repentance, reconciliation, restoration” (Edwin Louis Cole). Abraham Lincoln’s “Second Inaugural Address” is a speech that highlights every point in Cole’s quote. He, Lincoln, talks about how the south manages to rebel, how their economy will be left in ruin, how they will repent and be forgiven by both God and the North, how the North and the South will reconcile, and finally he talks of how the nation will move on to restoration. Abraham Lincoln’s “Second Inaugural Address” emphasizes the reconciliation of a torn apart nation by appealing to pathos, logos, and ethos and by using diction to appeal to the listener’s emotion.

Thomas Jefferson was known as the third president who came into office, in United States. In his younger years, while attending College of William and Mary, he practiced law and became a member of the Continental Congress. (Monticello) He was considered part of the upper class and maintained a wholesome reputation. He later served as U.S minister to France and the U.S secretary of state. He then became the nation’s Vice President under the Presidency of John Adams, which led him to presidency where his first inaugural speech was presented on March 4, 1801 in Washington D.C. Before he became President of the United States, Jefferson took a major part in writing the Declaration of Independence. His first inaugural speech reflects his ideas of equality as well. This historical context has many disclosures that can be analyzed to understand the connection between our course material and the speech.

In Abraham Lincoln’s Lyceum speech given in 1838, he instructs the audience how perpetuate our political institutions. How do we keep our country united? “The answer is simple. Let every American, every lover of liberty…swear by the blood of the Revolution, never to violate in the least particular, the laws of the country; and never to tolerate their violation by others.” But what about bad or unjust laws? “[I]f they exist, [they]should be repealed as soon as possible, still while they continue in force, for the sake of example, they should be religiously observed.”

George Washington had to borrow money to relocate to New York, then the center of American government. His presidential inauguration was held near New York 's Wall Street in late April 1789. A tremendous crowd showed up to see the man now known as "the Father of His Country." Borrowing a custom from English monarchs, who by tradition address Parliament when its sessions open, Washington gave a brief speech. It was the first inaugural address and the first of many contributions that Washington would make to the office of the presidency. But this would be no monarch; the new leader wore a plain brown suit.

While he might have pointed a heavier finger towards the South, he reminded the audience that “all dreaded it, [and] all sought to avert it.” The country couldn’t be united if the population was constantly blaming each other. He emphasized that while the whole country might have been at fault, the cause was “localized in the southern part.” What started as a disagreement between two parts of a country turned into the bloodiest war fought in the young country’s history. “Neither party expected… the magnitude” of the war, and “neither anticipated that the cause” (which was slavery) would end “before the conflict… should cease.” Lincoln delivered the Emancipation Proclamation before the end of the Civil War, so the main cause of the war was essentially concluded before the war itself was concluded. So, in conclusion, he managed to unite the country even further by acknowledging that both the North and the South held part of the blame of the

On March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as president of the United States. In his inaugural speech, he declared that the Constitution was a more perfect union than the earlier Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, and that this was a binding contract. He said he didn’t have any plans to invade the southern states, but that he would use force to maintain possession of federal property.

Inaugural addresses are speeches given during an acceptance ceremony which informs the people of his or her intentions as a leader. Successful speeches embed ingenious strategies which entice their target audiences to review and listen to their particular topic of speech. John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address and Julia Gillard’s acceptance speech to parliament are two very diverse dialogues which target similar audiences. Where John F. Kennedy’s speech promotes a new era for the American nation, Julia Gillard’s acceptance speech to parliament endorses changes to the community for the working Australian. Although both publications sponsor similar techniques and advertising, their target audiences have diverse needs and opinions.

Throughout the semester, the readers have been clashing with each other over which label best fits the author, but they have ignored the minute particulars. These readers are looking at the forest as a broad generalization, and they are missing out on what the forest really is… a bunch of trees. All of these trees are diverse but similar: they are American authors, and the forest is American literature. One might think that this is a flimsy analogy, but it is the most apt and succinct way of explaining this issue. To truly understand any text, one must couch it within historical context; to be valid, an interpretation has to make sense within the historical context, and it has to agree with the minute particulars of the text. If either of these criterion are not met, then the interpretation will not be representative of the text whatsoever. It is imperative that one pay heed to the minute particulars and the text’s historical context: otherwise, the text will be vastly misinterpreted and misrepresented in any discussion of the text. The students grossly mischaracterized Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address “as a pro-abolitionist tract; they also seemed to think that President Lincoln was some divine martyr for anti-slavery sentiment, and that he was an exemplary person with regards to American identity. They could not be further from the truth. Historical context is paramount to understanding Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address”.

On March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln took his first oath of office as President of the United States. On the East Portico of the new Capitol Building, Lincoln directed his voice not to the people in the crowd, but to the people of the seven states which had seceded from the Union just days before. He stood in the shadow of the Capitol’s half-finished dome, a symbol of the severe division within the nation. Mr. Lincoln would be met with great hardship and ambiguity throughout his two terms as president. He knew “a house divided among itself cannot stand.” What, then, was the solution? A war between the Northern Union and Southern rebels. His second inauguration, delivered just days before the surrender of the South, was spoken with a sense of

April 12, 1861, a mark to a bigger thing than anyone had thought about during this time. USA (Union States of America) against CSA (Confederate States of America), 620,000 people had died throughout this war of four years. November 19, 1863; two years from the beginning of the civil war a speech was spoken. The country of America, not the United States of America yet, was split in half because of issues of slavery and central power divided the United States. November 19, 1863; two years after the start of the war, a speech one to be remembered for generations, and generations after it was spoken. Even, after being ridiculed and said to be one of the most unimportant speech, became more important than the actual battle. This speech