Frederick Douglass And Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address Analysis

In the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass: an American Slave, written by himself, the author argues that slaves are treated no better than, sometimes worse, than livestock. Douglass supports his claim by demonstrating how the slaves were forced to eat out of a trough like pigs and second, shows how hard they were working, like animals. The author’s purpose is to show the lifestyle of an American slave in order to appeal to people’s emotions to show people, from a slave’s perspective, what slavery is really like. Based on the harsh descriptions of his life, Douglass is writing to abolitionist and other people that would sympathize and abolish slavery.

Frederick Douglass was a freed slave in the 1800’s who was famous for his ability to read and write, uncommon of a black man at the time. On July 4th, 1852, he gave a speech to citizens of the United States. In this speech, he called out the “hypocrisy of the nation”(Douglass), questioning the nation's treatment of slaves on a supposed day of independence. Frederick Douglass effectively uses rhetorical strategies to construct his argument and expose the hypocrisy of the nation.

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

The end of the battles of the Civil War introduced a period which was set to restore and reconstruct the United States of America. President Abraham Lincoln had plans to reconcile the nation in a peaceful manner. Lincoln’s goal was to reestablish the nation in a way that would not reproach either the north or south. In his second inaugural speech following the end of the Civil War, Lincoln’s statement “Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes his aid against the other” (Abraham Lincoln, Blackboard, p. 269) points out the shared

At the time of Douglass’ speech, the United States was an incredibly young nation which allowed its citizens every opportunity to improve and transform the country for the better. Douglass claimed that America was “still in the impressible stage of her existence” suggesting that there was still hope despite the erroneous route in which the country was headed considering its policy regarding the institution of slavery (Douglass, 149). Douglass was clever in the construction of his speech in how he began and ended by discussing that there was hope for America. Douglass proved to be an optimist through his hopeful statements, but he gives his speech true strength in his well-supported critiques and arguments. The confidence behind the words in his conclusion also worked to make his audience believers as is demonstrated when he claimed that, “There are forces in

Also a key point in increasing his integrity, are the Biblical allusions found throughout his speech. One major example is when he says “... to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle for his widow and his orphan…” (73-75) and by saying “Yet if God wills that it continue…” (63). This allusion to the Bible allows Lincoln to establish to the audience that he and the audience are alike in the important ways and that everything is done by God’s will. Another example of the Biblical Allusions are when Lincoln reminds the audience “The Almighty has His own purposes” (49-50). This shows that the audience and Lincoln are both under the same “Almighty” and are just following his given path. The Bible was seen as an important guideline to the way of life. By bringing in the Biblical allusions, Lincoln is trying to make the audience aware that he is following the rules. This makes the audience trust him more and develops the image of a leader in the audience’s eyes.

The “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” is an autobiography in which Frederick Douglass reflects on his life as a slave in America. He writes this book as a free slave, in the North, while slavery was still running its course before the Civil War. Through his effective use of rhetorical strategies, Frederick Douglass argues against the institution of slavery by appealing to pathos and ethos, introducing multiple anecdotes, using satirical irony, and explaining the persuasive effects of slavery and reasoning behind keeping slaves uneducated.

Frederick Douglass establishes his own ethos in the opening lines of the speech. He does so by questioning his oratorical authority to speak on freedom with the following rhetoric: “ Fellow citizens, pardon me, and allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? Frederick Douglass is not saying that he is a nobody, but out of everybody why would he, the former slave and abolitionist, be chosen to to speak on the celebration of freedom. But of course, Frederick Douglas resume suggests that he is educated, experienced and qualified enough to speak on freedom. He was born a slave in Maryland and experienced the horror of slavery first hand. He escaped from slavery and

Comparatively, the most used appeal throughout the speech is pathos. With every word, Douglass painted a straight of emotions and feelings to close the listeners in and make them understand the sentiment behind the slave's stories. Frederick uses his credited background in slavery to describe the life compared to the white man's. For example, Douglass states " ...above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions, whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are today rendered more intolerable by the jubilant shouts that reach them" (Douglass 1). This imagery sets the idea that while the freed white privileged Americans are ignorantly celebrating, there are man and women struggling to stay alive. The uneasy feeling that follows this idea is pathos. The

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 Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, He talks about the Civil War America was facing at the time. In his speech, his exaggerative diction, allusions to the Bible, and appeals to emotion helped strengthen and portray his point of view.

Lincoln wants unity in the nation. For all people to be treated the same and referred to as the same. Lincoln doesn’t refer to single handed people. He uses plural pronouns to show that we are untied as one. But let “us” not be judged for one has done wrong doing to another. Lincoln is using plural pronouns (i.e, us, our, we, ourselves, etc.) to imply that we are all one nation. Lincoln hopes for “charity for all” for he does not want to see hardships upon anyone. He prays for “God” to “give us” the right to see the right, “let us strive” to finish the work “we” are in, to heal the “nations wounds.” This war is not just affecting one side but, is affecting both and it

Douglass gave this speech in 1852, which was before the civil war. In his speech, Douglass starts by apologizing for being nervous in front of the crowd of people, but acknowledges that he has come a long way since slavery. This is proving that the tone of the speech is humble and loyal. Towards the end of the speech the tone changes and Douglass begins to become more passionate and angry. The reason that the tone changes is because Douglass soon starts to talk about slavery and connects it to when he was a slave. This brought lots of emotion and truth.

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.

He states how both, the North and South, “read the same Bible and pray to the same God,” and neither the North nor South expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it attained. Lincoln also maintains an optimistic tone throughout the speech and invokes unity with his parallel structured sentences.