Lincoln's Inaugural Address

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.

By the time Lincoln delivered his 2nd Inaugural Address in 1865 he had come to the realization that perhaps God did have a stronger role in the Civil War. After the death of his son he had started to re-evaluate God’s role in the war and wanted to know what everybody was also asking which was What was God’s will in the crisis. Each side, the North and South, believed in the same God and read the same Bible, but yet were not on the same page when it came to slavery. Each believed that God was on their side and that slavery was right or that slavery was a sin. The emancipation was a religious moment because it was as if a “new heaven and a new Earth” was created, many saw it as a new beginning although it only freed slaves in the South and racism

The rest of the southern states were still a part of the Union. 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.

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

Lincoln employed biblical allusions and imagery throughout his speeches and writings to articulate political religion and give the political principles a new appearance for the people to understand, admire, and reassert. President Lincoln’s use of biblical imagery helped revoke the platform the supporters of the institution of slavery argued upon, while appealing to the nation through romantic religious language. The biblical imagery encased in Lincoln’s rhetoric allowed for a better understanding of the republican principles found within the nation’s sacred documents that constituted for a national political religion.

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 Gettysburg Address was a speech composed and addressed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, at the time of the political fight in Gettysburg Pennsylvania. At that time, Abraham Lincoln was the President of the United States. He was also the President who led America through the Civil War. During the Civil War, at Gettysburg, some soldiers died protecting the nation. This was mentioned in Lincoln’s speech, which was meant to be dedicated to the soldiers who died defending their people. He spoke of how a piece of land on Earth should be dedicated in their memory in order to show respect for dead soldiers. The Gettysburg Address was an effective way of President Abraham Lincoln communicating with the people of the United States at a time

Abraham Lincoln believed that to preserve the union, he would need to free slaves, but it was more than that, he needed to find a way to bring the country together as one rather than separation. He said himself, " if I could save the union, without freeing any slave

On March 4, 1865 Abraham Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address as president of the United States. The inaugural address came at the very end of the American Civil War, and just a month before the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Prior to this address, the United States had been split into two different independent states, the Union and the Confederacy. Throughout Abraham Lincoln’s first term and the very beginning of his second, Lincoln had to deal with the secession of the eleven states that made up the Confederacy. Also during the war, Lincoln competed in the 1864 presidential election in which his leadership was challenged by George B. McClellan. This inaugural address was important at the time, and remains a relic of Abraham Lincoln’s powerful speaking ability.

“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.

Washington’s farewell address and Lincoln’s 2nd inaugural address both mention about the military, the relationship between North the South. Also they both achieve and cherish a just and peace nation. Lincoln’ thinks people are afraid of the civil war, so they are trying to avoid the civil war happen.

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.”

From the first president George Washington to the thirty-second president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, inaugural addresses have transformed from God-filled, hopeful speeches to pleas to the nation. Washington gives a humble address, and makes many references to God to the nation assuring them that if they have faith in God, they will have faith in him, he makes it obvious to the people he’s not pleading to them for help. FDR on the other hand establishes his ethos immediately by gaining the trust of the nation, and also pleads to the people to lure them in on the subject of unemployment. Both presidents use biblical allusions to appeal to the people in their addresses.

Inaugural Address An inaugural address is defined as a speech given during a ceremony which informs the people that are listening of his or her intentions as a leader. In the United States our presidents give their inaugural speech when they are sworn to become the president. The speeches are supposed to symbolize what the president plans to do and what they stand for. One of the shortest inauguration speeches in U.S. history had left many people speechless after hearing it and it is still in textbooks around the country today. This speech was John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address in 1961 and it had a lasting impact on the United States. In his speech, he speaks of Americans having a new generation and that generation being able to handle many

A speech giving by Abraham Lincoln called "Gettysburg Address" after the war in Gettysburg had ended, affected others passionately. In the time period of when this speech was given, people didn't realize that all men are equal. Men, young men, too, were at war not understanding why we had a war. Men lost their lives because they were committed to fighting in this war. They should not have passed just because they were protecting their home. Ultimately, Lincoln tried to change his listeners' minds about the idea "that all men are equal" by wanting to let others know that men are equal, and should be treated equal, no matter the skin, what they're worth, giving their life for dedication, or how rich they were.