Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address Rhetorical Analysis Essay

The historian David Blight says that Lincoln’s message in the Gettysburg Address was to help the people recover from the deficit from the Battle of Gettysburg and the casualties that were caused by it. Lincoln simply wants to rebuild the country.

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.

Repetition is the final key rhetorical device in the address. Two examples of repetition are in the opening statement of the Gettysburg Address which set the repetitious nature of the whole speech. Common expression, such as “we,” “our,” and “us,” is used to tie the entire address together, but this set of repletion is outweighed by the other. The word “dedicated” has been used in the speech to not only tie the entire speech together but to also appeal to pathos, an emotional appeal. The words “I” and “you” are absent from the speech, instead Lincoln uses words such as “we,” “our,” and “us,” to include the people of the Union and the Confederacy to unite both parties as a whole under the one

Lincoln’s optimistic tone attempts to persuade the audience into forgiving the South and making peace. For instance, Lincoln says, “to bind up the nation’s wounds,”, a bright and encouraging quote for the country’s future. By referring to the Union and Confederacy as a one entity, it depicts them as a single united country. What Lincoln also suggests is that the Civil

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.

In Lincoln’s “Second Inaugural Address”, he promotes his credibility as a way to cajole the audience. Beginning his address, he states “Fellow-Countrymen” (ln 1) invoking the feeling that he is also of their status; however, he contradicts himself by availing, “I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all” (ln 13), he exerts himself as a higher being by saying, “I trust” because if he, the President of the United States of America, believes that the country is making progress because of this war, then the audience will then too assume that the country is making progress with this war. In the second paragraph, he once again includes himself in the audience by addressing his conjectures on the war. “All dreaded it, all sought to avert it” (ln 18-19). By utilizing “all”, Lincoln enhances his point of view in which he makes the audience believe he has the same power as the general population and can do nothing more than what is currently being done. In the third paragraph, he applies biblical relations to improve his credibility in the eyes of the audience, “Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invoked His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any man should dare ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged.” (ln 42-48), he adds on by saying, “‘the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.’” (ln 68-69). This appeals to both sides of the audience. The South relies heavily on their beliefs, faith, and religion and the North

“Neither anticipated” the “conflict” it would cause. Lincoln is contemplating the results that this war will have, at this point he looks at is as now we must put war into the hands of the “almighty.” If “American slavery” is a “providence of God” then we must cease to accept it. Lincoln expresses that God gave both “North and South this terrible war.” Then goes on to logically explaining that the country is a “bondsman” and has an abundance of debt that must be “paid.” The war will not be over until every drop of “blood” has been “drawn” with the “lash” that shall be “paid.” God will not grant this war to be over until a price has been paid. Lincoln explains that the judgements of the “Lord are true” and “righteous” altogether. Lincoln conveys that the outcome of war is now in God’s hands.

'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

On March 4, 1865, four long years after the onset of the Civil War, United States President Abraham Lincoln presented his consolidating Second Inaugural Address with “high hope for the future.” His ideas for progression metamorphosed from “saving the Union without war,” in his First Inaugural Address, to salvaging what remained of the ruptured relationship between the North and South in his Second Inaugural Address and mending the wounds suffered by both. The president achieved his intent by using cogent parallelism paired with elaborate allusions to reveal that both the North and the South possess corresponding traits, and descriptive diction to ekove more than emotions in his audience.

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.

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.

According to the chapter, “rhetoric addresses unresolved issues that do not dictate a particular outcome and in the process it engages our value commitments.” (15). We see how Lincoln’s inaugural speech tries to engage

Lincoln ended the “Gettysburg Address” with these final 2 lines: “...that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” (13, 14). In times of such great suffering, Lincoln was able to convey his message that the war must go on to preserve the values that this country was founded on. We cannot forget those who gave their lives to protect our freedom; remember that country we live in now is built upon the corpses of those men! If the world wants to believe that we can coexist together, they will have to reconcile with each other over past