Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

In his Second Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln provided one of the most memorable speeches in history that affected the way American citizens saw the war. The March 4th speech in 1865 gave more people hope for the country and allowed them to trust that God will help them through the Civil War. The people trusted Lincoln to help them through the situation because he had already served his first term as president, and the people knew he was trustworthy, so they re-elected him. Lincoln professionally used rhetorical appeals such as ethos pathos and logos to press his audience to agree, as well as tone to show his audience how importantly they should be taking the subject. Abraham’s Second Inaugural Address was an introduction to his plan for the United States for the next years he would be president, and much of it was a discussion about the Civil War and how they would bring it to an end.

President Abraham Lincoln used numerous rhetorical devices in his speech at the Second Inaugural Address to present the audience with the effects of the Civil War. The purpose was to edify the audience on his vision for the nation’s future. He adopts an accepting tone in order to appeal to the feelings and concerns of the men present at the Inaugural. After reading the speech, one can observe the appeal to the audience’s emotion, building of self-credibility, and the use of parallelism used by Lincoln to aid in presenting his vision for the future of the nation.

In Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, President Lincoln addresses a divided nation. Both the Union and the Confederacy are bitter to each other towards the end of the war. However, Lincoln calls both the north and the south to set aside their issues that divided them in order to heal their broken nation. Lincoln uses a slew of rhetorical methods in his speech such as tone, diction, and syntax to further assist him in achieving his purpose of uniting the nation.

Lincoln lead the nations out of the most terrible crisis. The Civil War was more bitter and protracted than anyone had predicted. The war costed more than 600,000 lives, and doubled the amount of widows, and orphans. In Lincoln’s second inaugural address, which was delivered just over a month before his death, he spoke about the war, as he had just come to understand it. Lincoln spoke about the reconstruction of the war, he then made a promise that is still promised

Mencken criticized Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, saying that it made no sense. To Mencken, the speech was just one of Lincoln’s political moves to gain more fame and win the people’s support, and Lincoln speech was untrue because Mencken believed that the speech was just mere words to soothe the listener. Mencken gave the opinion which he felt was right regarding the message Abraham Lincoln presented at the Gettysburg Address, by criticizing it as being “eloquent”, “poetry” and said that its “beauty” undercuts its “logic”, “sense” and “truth”.(Mencken 1920, 775). However, it was not true because during the speech in Gettysburg, Lincoln proved to the people that he was not just saying these things because they was “eloquent” and had “beauty”, but, because he had plans for the growth of the nation after the Civil War. Mencken presented Lincolns speech as “It is difficult to imagine anything more untrue” (Mencken 1920, 775).

Could the North and South ever come together again and unite as one nation after the Civil War? The purpose of Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address was to offer his promising predictions for reconciliation with the South and his vision of the future. Lincoln utilizes strong and elevated diction to clearly articulate his vision for the future, with choices like “dreaded” and “sought”. Furthermore, Lincoln’s optimistic tone offers a beacon of hope, with examples like, “achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations,” and “to bind up the nation’s wounds”. The purpose of the address is achieved through parallelism and appeal to religion, too. Lincoln’s diction, one of his most powerful literary devices, is employed prominently throughout the entire passage.

In 1864, the country was divided due to the Civil War. Both sides had experienced great losses, and many were starting to lose hope. To this day, the Civil War remains the bloodiest war in U.S. history. 1864 was also the same year Abraham Lincoln was reelected for President of the United States. When Lincoln got up to make his second inaugural address, he claimed that because he had done this before, he wasn’t going to use all of the formalities that are often used in inauguration speeches. Instead, he focused mostly on trying to give the people-specifically, the north-hope during this terrible time. In Lincoln’s address, he attempts to give people hope and reunite the country via his use of tone, ethos, logos, and pathos.

Weeks of wet weather had occurred before Saturday March 4th, 1865, making Pennsylvania Avenue a thick, muddy place; however, the pounding rain did not stop the spectators from listening to Lincoln give his Second Inaugural Address, given one month before the end of the Civil War. The Civil War was the result of a long standing controversy over slavery. The North and the South did not agree with each other. Slavery in the North had died out to the point where almost all blacks were free. The South on the other hand very few blacks were free. Causing a long lastly disagreement between both sides. When Lincoln gave his speech spectators were expecting a speech on slavery when Lincoln gave a dark gloomy speech that no one saw coming. The Civil War had lasted through his passed presidency and ended five days before his death. United States President Abraham Lincoln surprised his massive audience with a very short speech in which he talked about the effects of the Civil War, and expressed his feelings toward the future of the United States. Lincoln wanted to restore faith in the nation, talking about how the war would end soon, and that the nation was going to reunite. In this short speech Lincoln asserts that the audience knows and is knowledgeable about the war, which shows that the Americans know the war was just by using juxtaposition. Lincoln addresses his opinion towards the war, and makes it clear by utilizing biblical allusion, creating a basis of mutual agreement between the North and the South.

On Saturday March 4th, 1865 president Abraham Lincoln, one month before the end of the Civil War, contemplates the effects of the Civil War and his vision for the future of the nation, through a series of rhetorical analysis rooting in logic. This being President Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Speech, the audience was expecting a lengthy speech on slavery, politics, and state rights. In return, they got a speech rooted in logic. War was “dreaded by all” and both parties “deprecated war.” The south wanted to “make war” instead of letting the “nation survive,” as the North wanted to “accept war” rather than “perish” it.

A war in which bloodshed took place between brothers, friends, and neighbors had luckily come to an end in 1865. Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address occurred on May 4, 1865. In his speech, he talks about how the effects of the war will eventually fade away along with the issue of slavery. Lincoln’s speech uses rhetorical devices such as tone, diction, and imagery to create and emphasize his purpose to unite the divided country. The use of these rhetorical devices allows Lincoln to achieve the purpose of his speech, which is to reunite the nation - one nation under God.

'With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us 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, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.' In the delivery of Lincoln's 'Second Inaugural,' many were inspired by this uplifting and keen speech. It had been a long war, and Lincoln was concerned about the destruction that had taken place. Worn-out from seeing families torn apart and friendships eradicated, he interpreted his inaugural address. It was March of 1865, and the war, he believed, must come to an

“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.

President Abraham Lincoln orated a powerful persuasive speech in his Second Inaugural Address, just one month before the end of the Civil War. This speech shed light to his contemplation of the effects of the Civil War and provided his vision for the future of the nation. Lincoln’s address was written through a logical theme that focused on the unity of the country. He used religion, specific diction, and flat-out logical thinking to convey his message. The speech was given as the Civil War was ending, and President Lincoln wanted to provide a bit of light in a very dark time. He could have given the lengthy speech that the audience expected; but instead, he gave a short message of unity that fueled the United States for years to come.

Four and a half months after the Union defeated the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863. He gave the Union soldiers a new perspective on the war and a reason to fight in the Civil War. Before the address, the Civil War was based on states’ rights. Lincoln’s speech has the essence of America and the ideals that were instilled in the Declaration of Independence by the Founders. The sixteenth president of the United States was capable of using his speech to turn a war on states’ rights to a war on slavery and upholding the principles that America was founded upon. By turning the Civil War into a war about slavery he effortlessly ensured that no foreign country would

The Civil War was a period of racial injustice and a time of great loss for the people of America. During Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, he creates a moral framework for peace and reconciliation with the use of many rhetorical strategies. With a sincere but reflective tone, Abraham Lincoln highlights the reality of the troubled nation and the solution to all of the problems, which is unity. Lincoln repeats strong phrases to enhance the theme, references to a holy figure, and creates simple, yet structured ideas to achieve his purpose of reuniting the broken nation.