Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

525 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Lincoln's Second Inaugural

Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, was delivered March 4, 1865. During this time, he was in the process of attempting to mend both sides of the war. Instead of giving a victory speech to the North or a blame filled speech to the South, he instead spoke to both of them, in the attempt to have war reconciliation. In his address, Lincoln discusses slavery and the war between the North and South. This leads readers to believe he is talking to all citizens of the United States. We know he references the South when he states, “One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it” (p 3). In this quote, he directly singles out the South, but he mentions the North when he says, “It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of another men’s faces…” (p 3) This represents both the South and the North because he is asking how they can both participate in such acts, yet both ask God for assistance in helping them succeed in taking out...

Show More
Related

  • Rhetorical Analysis of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Speech

    637 Words  | 2 Pages

    '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 end before it was too late. The annihilation that had taken place was tragic, and Lincoln brawled for a closure. The 'Second Inaugural' was very influential, formal, and emotional.

    Read More

  • Abraham Lincoln's Famous Address, And The Rise Of A President

    686 Words  | 2 Pages

    Out of the 43 presidents that have served for the United States, the most recognizable and exceptional president by far was Abraham Lincoln. Through childhood, Lincoln seemed always interested in politics, not knowing how much publicity and significance he would get. The three authors of the Grace Bedell and the President’s Beard, Lincoln’s Famous Address, and The Rise of a President all agree with the fact that Lincoln was a fanonimal president. During just four years of office, Lincoln made a memorable picture for himself, led a war between many different parts of the U. S., and made one of the greatest speeches the nation has ever seen.

    Read More

  • Comparison Of Kennedy And John F. Kennedy's Second Inaugural Address

    892 Words  | 2 Pages

    In a tradition dating back to George Washington, every newly-elected president gives an inaugural address at the time of his swearing into office. Many of these inaugural speeches have been given during times of war. Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address was given on March 4, 1865, near the end of the American Civil War, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Fourth Inaugural Address was given on January 20, 1945, in the last year of World War Two, and John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address was given on January 20, 1961, during the darkest years of the Cold War. Each in their own way, in their respective inaugural addresses, spoke words of reassurance and encouragement to a nation’s people troubled by war and anxious about peace.

    Read More

  • Lincoln Inaugural Address Analysis

    1028 Words  | 3 Pages

    He had just beaten out George B. McClellan for president. McClellan wanted the country split into two- one slave-holding and one free. However, the country had chosen Lincoln, they wanted the country to stay together. People wanted too much of Lincoln. He would have enemies no matter what choice he made. So now, instead of staying passive like he did in his first Inaugural Address, he took a stand in his second. He told the country that God sent the slaves to them early in this country, but now He wanted them gone. The war was a punishment from God for all slaveholders. Lincoln made this a rallying cry for all northerners, telling them that they would fight “until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword.” This war would be bloody, but if they could only keep fighting a little more, there would be success at the

    Read More

  • Gettysburg Address Rhetorical Analysis

    893 Words  | 2 Pages

    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 into a war on slavery and upholding the principles that America was founded upon.

    Read More

  • The Secession Crisis

    903 Words  | 2 Pages

    Contrary to what today’s society believes about Lincoln, he was not a popular man with the South at this time. The South wanted to expand towards the West, but Lincoln created a geographical containment rule keeping slavery in the states it currently resided in. Despite his trying to rationalize with the South, Lincoln actually believed something different ”Lincoln claimed that he, like the Founding Fathers, saw slavery in the Old South as a regrettable reality whose expansion could and should be arrested, thereby putting it on the long and gradual road ”ultimate extinction” (216). He believed it to be “evil” thus “implying that free southerners were evil for defending it”(275). Lincoln wanted to wipe out slavery for good, and the South could sense his secret motives.

    Read More

  • Franklin Delano Roosevelt's First Inaugural Address

    1317 Words  | 3 Pages

    Thesis: Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a miraculous leader and accomplished this by using pathos, ethos, logos, and diction to make people feel a joyful.

    Read More

  • Franklin D Roosevelt's Inaugural Address

    744 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1947, Congress passed the 22nd Amendment, which states that no president can be elected to more than two terms in office. Amendments are created and ratified because they are applicable to most of the general public; however, only one man had ever “broken” this new rule. Franklin Delano Roosevelt served as president during some of America’s roughest years: the Great Depression, Pearl Harbor, and World War II are just a few big events on the list. The public re-elected Roosevelt to serve four terms as America’s 32nd president, however, his legacy began with his Inaugural Address he delivered to the public in 1933. Throughout the speech he proved his credibility and authority as president, found a common ground with his audience, addressed the nation’s issues, and discussed the decisions he would make to fix them.

    Read More

  • Abraham Lincoln and Slavery

    1612 Words  | 4 Pages

    He wisely used the issue of slavery to appeal to both the abolitionists and to Negrophobes, Northerners who were afraid of living side-by- side with Negroes and competing with them for jobs. For example, on July 10th of 1959, Lincoln gave a speech in Chicago, a primarily abolitionist town. Lincoln stated that inequality was unnecessary in this country. If all men were created equal then were should look past race, saying, “Let us discard all these things, and unite as one people throughout this land, until we shall once more stand up declaring that all men are created equal” (Hofstadter, pg. 148).

    Read More

  • Abraham Lincoln Speech Analysis

    844 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lincoln had to focus on the spread of slavery because if slavery spread, he would have a bigger population of people to deal with. In his first inauguration speech Lincoln said, “"I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.” He confirmed to the south in this speech that he would not uproot the slaves already in the south because he did not think it was constitutionally correct. Lincoln makes it extremely clear that he does not want the intuition of slavery spreading. In his speech in Chicago, Illinois, he says, “But I say that the spread and strengthening and perpetuation of it is an entirely different proposition. There we should in every way resist it as a wrong, treating it as a wrong, with the fixed idea that it must and will come to an end." He knew that saying that he wanted to interfere with the institution of slavery that was established would make the south even

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis Of Success Is Counted Sweetest

    1051 Words  | 3 Pages

    As Lloyd F. Bitzer so famously stated, “rhetoric applies to contingent and probably matters which are subjects of actual or possible disagreement by serious people, and which permit alternative beliefs, values, and positions.” Slavery was undeniably a major disagreement between the people of the United States to the point where there was a Civil War as a direct result. The North and the South had different “beliefs, values, and positions” regarding slavery, which Lincoln focused on in his Address. At that time, Lincoln knew that slavery was immoral and should be abolished accordingly. He worked up until the very day that he died to ensure that there would be equality and freedom in the United States.

    Read More

  • George Washington's Second Speech In History

    214 Words  | 1 Pages

    The best inauguration speech in history was George Washington's second speech. He seemed very pleased and enthused to be selected back into office. He stated “I entertain of this distinguished honor, and of the confidence which has been reposed in me by the people of united America,” he was a very proud and confided man when it came to serving as this country’s president for a second term. Another reason it was the best was because it was only two paragraphs long. He didn’t try to re-impress the people he was more like “I’m honored you chose me, thanks but I’m not giving a long speech,” (He didn’t exactly state that, I more implied it.) He didn’t put a whole lot of effort trying to impress because the people already knew what kind of man

    Read More

  • Benjamin Franklin's Inaugural Address

    435 Words  | 1 Pages

    Benjamin Franklin starts off this excerpt by saying,'' SAVAGES we call them, because their manners differ from ours, which we think perfection of civility; they think the same of theirs. Personally, this  statement  alone set my opinion of the text and gave the writing a sense equality and justice. This writing is making a bold statement of impartiality and asks for compassion of people of all different races. Franklin uses a strategy of compare and contrast between the native american people and the traditions of white americans alike. The first comparison we see is of our governments, their government is mostly by Counsel, or Advice, of the Sages. They live by a non-forceful way, that is void of prisons or prison officers to coerce obedience

    Read More

  • The Gettysburg Address

    360 Words  | 1 Pages

    One of the most recent, and recognized funeral oration is the Gettysburg addresses by Abraham Lincoln. The Gettysburg address is one of the most influential statements. Lincoln echoed the values of human equality backed by the Declaration of Independence and declared the Civil War as a fight for the support of the Union that would get true equality to all of its citizens. The Battle of Gettysburg (1863) was the most important defining moment in the Civil War that brought an overwhelming loss to the Confederate forces and stopped their advance into Union territory. The speech starts by taking the audience to the beginning of the country where it was founded on liberty as well as equality. In the text The Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln (1905),

    Read More

  • Lincoln's Persuasive Speech

    2486 Words  | 5 Pages

    Abraham Lincoln once said, “ My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of Earth (Lincoln. np.).” At the time when these words were spoken, I believe that Lincoln meant for us, the United States, to be an example that other countries should strive towards, for things like a well run and effective republic; and yet, we have evolved into a completely different monster. We have become the world’s police force even though we honestly are not the only country who could do these things. His words were taken differently by those who succeeded him in the presidential office. They took the meaning of these words to be that we must interfere and try to help stop and prevent atrocities and communism in Europe and Asia to our best ability. Their choices to do this for the countries who were facing tyrannical leaders with inhumane policies was not by any means bad, but honorable and the correct thing to do with the situation at hand. Although a few of those times were after we had been attacked here at home. Pearl Harbor and The World Trade Center attacks caused us to enter into wars

    Read More

More about Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

Open Document