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Analysis of Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address Essay
Analysis of Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address Essay
Analysis of Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address Essay
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Abraham Lincoln was an American statesman, a lawyer, and a vocal opponent of slavery. He was elected 16th president of the United States in November 1860. In Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address, Lincoln effectively uses optimistic tone, allusion, and diction to successfully display his point about the negative effects of the civil war and to unite the broken nation.
Abraham Lincoln, a man of courage, held a positive vision for the future. In his speech, he uses an optimistic tone to encourage his audience that we as a union must come together to help nurture the nation, and bring peace again. In lines 70-76, Abraham Lincoln states, “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…” According to this quote, the cause of the horrendous civil war is because of evil, and selfishness. Lincoln strongly suggests that we as a nation must have sympathy and affection for each other in order to create a strong, peaceful nation.
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Abraham Lincoln also influences his people by applying allusion in his speech to show that the people, both from the North, and the South, have the same values.
In lines, 41-48, Abraham references God, and the Bible to his audience by mentioning ...It may seem strange that any men should dare to 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.” Many citizens at the time could relate to Abraham's speech because they were Christian. In the last sentence, “..but let us judge not, that we be not judged.” displays an allusion to the words of Jesus in the Bible Matthew 7:1 which in King James version says, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” Since many citizens were religious, this quote was very effective as it drew their
attention. Ultimately, Abraham Lincoln uses charismatic diction to display the ambition towards unity for the Nation. In the speech lines 42-43 Abraham says, “Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God.” Also in lines 71-72 Lincoln states, “...God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in…” In these two examples, Lincoln uses words such as “both” and “us” many times in his speech to influence unification between the North and the South. Lincoln’s second inaugural address uses a confident voice, religious allusion, and a repetitive, powerful vocabulary to influence the people of his nation. Lincoln’s main focus was to unify and create peace between the broken nation. He successfully encourages his people within this speech. Five days later after Lincoln expressed his beautiful speech, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln’s words will forever be remembered, as his speech changed citizens perspectives, and allowed them to reflect on his word’s to make the right decisions in the future.
Disapproval, the Confederacy, and slavery were amongst the many crises Abraham Lincoln faced when addressing his First Inaugural speech (Lincoln, First Inaugural, p.37). Above all, Lincoln’s speech was stepping on the boundaries of the southern slave states. Once states began to secede, new territories formed and the disapproval of Lincoln grew. Despite Lincoln’s attempts of unifying the antislavery and confederate views, many whites refused to follow his untraditional beliefs. Lincoln encountered hostile and admirable emotions from the people of the Union and the Confederacy. However, despite his representation of the Union, not everyone agreed with his views.
Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth president of the United States. Lincoln has made one of the biggest impacts in United States History by saving the Union during the American Civil War and emancipating the slaves. Lincoln has always been considered anti-slavery, though he seemed to become more of an abolitionist as his term went by. Unfortunately, Lincoln was assassinated in a drama theatre in 1865. This formed many issues because the president after Lincoln was a southerner named Andrew Johnson. Johnson did not execute Lincoln’s plans correctly and did not understand his visions. Lincoln had solutions to many issues that Johnson did not know about. On top of that President Johnson was not a man who was greatly liked. Although Lincoln was
Abraham Lincoln was one of the greatest presidents to ever serve in office in the history of the U.S., serving from 1860 to 1865. A self-educated attorney from Illinois, he proved himself to be a brilliant leader throughout the Civil War period. Although President Abraham Lincoln faced the biggest crisis in American history, he saved the nation by preserving the Union during the Civil War, boosting the economy, by fighting for the abolition of slavery, and by boosting the Northern economy.
It was a goal of President Abraham Lincoln’s for Reconstruction to be a very smooth and successful period of time. “With malice toward none, with charity to all,” Lincoln said in his second inauguration speech. He was referring to not only the conflict between black men and white men, but also the hard feelings between the north and south. The southern states had entered the Civil War with such confidence and dreams of independence that many were now humiliated at the idea of having to receive aid from the federal government. President Lincoln’s assassination also put in the country in further turmoil.
...after the Civil War, Frederick Douglass continued to think highly of Lincoln and his great speech. It was hard to believe that before the Civil War, the two men disagreed and fought over the greatest and most awful sin committed, slavery. But they found a way to form the friendship that would last throughout history. It was his famous quote that really brought attention. He had said of the sixteenth president, “His greatest mission was to accomplish two things: first, to save his country from dismemberment and ruin; and, second, to free his country from the great crime of slavery . . . . taking him for all in all, measuring the tremendous magnitude of the work before him, considering the necessary means to ends, and surveying the end from the beginning, infinite wisdom has seldom sent any man into the world better fitted for his mission than Abraham Lincoln.”
John Fitzgerald Kennedy delivered one of the most important American speeches after being sworn in as president on January 20, 1961. His inauguration speech was so influential that it seized the nation’s attention, and quotes from it are still clearly remembered by people today. It is considered one of the best speeches ever written and ever delivered. It presents a strong appeal to pathos, ethos, and logos and accomplishes what any speaker strives for – it speaks straight to the heart of the audience and inspires people.
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 something to fight for. Before the address, the Civil War was based solely on states’ rights. Lincoln’s speech has the essence of America and the ideals that were put into 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 that was about slavery he was able to ensure that no foreign country would recognize the south as an independent nation, thus ensuring Union success in the war. In his speech, Lincoln used the rhetorical devices of juxtaposition, repetition, and parallelism.
One reason on how Roosevelt's "First Inaugural Address" made a difference was the words he used to wage war. Roosevelt uses words like "retreat" and "advance" in his speech. "With this pledge taken, I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great army of our people dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our common problems," Roosevelt says. Which means that he is ready to dominate the Great Depression and help the people of America.
One of Lincoln’s most famous quotes is “A House divided against itself cannot stand.” This describes his presidency well- focusing on maintaining the Union. In the beginning, Lincoln tried to stay out of sensitive affairs involving the North and South in an attempt to keep them together, promising the South little interference. Despite this, he played a key role in passing the Thirteenth Amendment, doing whatever it takes to end slavery for good and ending the Civil War.
Abraham Lincoln wrote one of the greatest speeches in American history known as the Gettysburg Address. It was not only used as a dedication to the fallen troops of the North and South, but as a speech to give the Union a reason to fight and attempt to unite the divided nation. The sixteenth president’s handling of his speech at Gettysburg demonstrated how the effectiveness of juxtaposition, repetition, and parallelism, could bring unity to a nation deeply divided on beliefs. His speech touched the hearts of many and indirectly put an end to the Civil War. Lincoln may have been considered a tyrant at the time but he was a great leader of a nation, a war, and a democracy.
Lincoln’s optimistic tone encourages all Americans to put behind them the Civil War and progress forward as a united nation once more. President Lincoln calls to action all the peoples of America with sentences such as, “let us strive on to finish the work we are in” and “ to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace”. The tone that President Lincoln capitalizes on is purposefully optimistic because he hopes to end the war and move past the issue of slavery, among others, which has divided the nation, and he wishes to safeguard the nations reunification. Lincoln’s tone also has hortative sentences such as asking the American people to “strive”. President Lincoln also wishes to rid both sides of any grudges or rancor they may feel towards one another for the war by reflecting that “all sought to avert it” and by articulating, “Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it…attained”. And towards the end of his speech, Lincoln calls the nation to be unified “with malice towards none, with charity for all” so that their minds and souls may be cleared of any ill will in order for the nation’s reunification to be permanent and not just superficial. President Lincoln evokes the nation as a whole to a higher degree in hop...
You can argue Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address is the best speech ever given for many reasons due to the richness of the text. Abraham Lincoln gave this speech when tensions were very high in the United States when the North was fighting the South in a bloody Civil War no not the Marvel movie “Captain America Civil War” the real Civil War where the north fought for the freedom of slaves. The speech Lincoln gave is superb in many ways it identifies his audience, has exigence, his purpose, and emotional effect to make the Second Inaugural Address timeless. Abraham Lincoln being President had to address these matters which he did in his Second Inaugural Address which he tried to convince the North and the South to stop the war and unite as one to settle the differences or tragedy will occur.
Abraham Lincoln and Slavery Many Americans believe that Abraham Lincoln was the “Great Emancipator,” the sole individual who ended slavery, and the man who epitomizes freedom. In his brief presidential term, Lincoln dealt with an unstable nation, with the South seceding from the country and in brink of leaving permanently.
One of the strongest basic values that Lincoln expressed was that the civil war as a devastating situation for most people. He expressed this by saying, “Both parties deprecated war.” Meanwhile, a more fragile basic value of his speech is the classification of the South as the destructive force and the North as the protective one. He said, “But one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive. And the other would accept war rather than let it perish.” This value splits the public into two factions (Hansen 244) that was defined by Lincoln as “good” and “bad”.
No doubt, famous historical figure Abraham Lincoln was a key figure for the United States during its Civil War. Whenever he’s spoken of in the educational system, he’s known as the man who freed the slaves. During Lincoln’s presidency, he implemented an order that would forever affect the slaves and the outcome of the Civil War. On September 22, 1862, he released the preliminary announcement for the Emancipation Proclamation. It eventually went into full effect on January 1st, 1863, during the second year of the Civil War. As President Lincoln signed the proclamation on New Year 's day in his office, he quoted, “I never felt more certain, that I was doing right, than signing this paper.”