Lincoln's Second Inaugural Speech Analysis

During Abraham Lincoln’s presidency at the start of the 1860, an issue that had divided the nation was slavery. Lincoln’s election to presidency as a republic was not received well by the Southern slave states, as they thought that as a republican he was out to abolish slavery. In an effort to calm southern states and keep them from seceding from the United States, he attempts to ease them with his First Inaugural Address. In his First Inaugural Address his key points are to clam southern leaders of slave states, keep the states from seceding, and make them at ease as he enters presidency.

He touches on his previous idea of separating himself from the government, stating that he has a solemn oath to protect it, while maintaining that the government is not the enemy and will not be the aggressor. Even the themes in the last paragraph harken back to an earlier time of unity and enforce Lincolns claim as the embodiment of the founders vision. The mystic chords of memory are remarkably similar to Madison’s many cords of affection the connect all American’s together, and the structure of the argument is nearly identical (Hubbel, 1931, p. 551). It’s with this final plea that Lincoln finishes his speech, and can only hope that it was enough to prevent a catastrophic loss of

Abraham Lincoln’s speech at the Young Men’s Lyceum in

As most men and women in America are Christian, Lincoln’s references to bible and God evoke a powerful message. “With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right…” Despite America being divided at that time, Lincoln claims that all of America is under God. And although many southerners have reasons to despise Lincoln, but they can’t blatantly ignore his appeals to the Christian faith. Lincoln also brings up the alternative to his optimism using religion.

Many people wanted slavery abolished and fought in the Civil War because of that very reason. In 1863, the country tried once again to accomplish what our founding fathers could not. It led to the Civil War. In Lincoln’s House Divided Speech, he states, “In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached, and passed. ‘A house divided against itself cannot stand.

This speech that he gave was critical to not only the war, but also the whole future that followed, therefore with this in mind Lincoln made thorough use of rhetoric when and where he could in his speech. The speech starts with “Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” (Lincoln, 1), a rather simple single sentence which sets up the whole exposition for the speech. This sentence does not make much use of rhetoric because of its simplicity, it is easy for all to understand which may have helped Lincoln win favor of the slaves in the South further advancing the Union’s agenda. Yet with the lack of use of rhetoric, Lincoln was able to get across the foundations of his tone and establish the mood. Both the Union and the Confederacy

In his Second Inaugural Address, President Abraham Lincoln addressed the topic of the Civil War and argued that the nation needed to change. He supported his claim with parallel structure to highlight the differences between the North and South, then mentioning biblical references to express the importance of religion, and finally the diction he used helped join the citizens together. President Lincoln’s purpose was to express the similarities between the North and South in order to unify the country once again. He uses a critical, yet hopeful tone towards the Americans of both the North and South. Just one month before the end of the Civil War, President Lincoln gave his Second Inaugural Address in the hopes of reuniting the country once

Lincoln does quite a couple compare and contrast scenarios for the two parts of the divided nation, but always ends up putting the north on top. Another appeal is hidden in the big section where Lincoln addresses God’s will and what he desires. He states that the Union upheld God’s law while the south rebelled against it, thus, once again praising the

This shows that Abraham Lincoln wants the nation to be full of equality. With this being said, African-Americans should no longer be judged for the color of their skin, or be kept as slaves because of the color of their skin. All things considered, before the Civil War, nay people didn’t have freedom, rights, and many African-Americans were mistreated and kept as slaves. That is why the Civil War had such a big affect in

It is seen clearly in his word choice that Lincoln calls for a lasting and fair peace, but not only between the North and South. He also calls the American people to apply this concept of peace with other countries and in foreign policy. Throughout his Second Inaugural Address, President Abraham Lincoln employs a variety of rhetorical strategies to promote unity between Americans. As Lincoln once said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

But for other words, helps to endorse this general theme, those being: care, judge, and cease. All of these words foreshadow his expectations for the future, and his feelings to come, proving he knows the nation will unite again, even if others don’t believe him, therefore allowing his main argument to gain more foot holding because it seems as though Lincoln already knows the outcome of future

The iconic first sentence of the speech states “ Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty” (Lincoln, # ). The event Lincoln is referring to in the

Lincoln's uses rhetorical strategy throughout his Second Inaugural Address was the use of an appeal to his audience's emotions. This is evident during his entire speech Lincoln continuously revert to religious evidence of some sort to support his claim. He says that although it may seem absurd for slavery's proponents to be allowed to pray to God, that his audience and he should “judge not that [they] be not judged,” alluding to the Lord's Prayer and appealing to his audience's Christian beliefs. He continues religion when talking about the Christians, he states, “Fondly do [they] hope, fervently do

He alludes the South by asking about the ethics of praying to God in order to keep the cruel and unjust act of slavery. Lincoln incorporates religion in his speech to display the North and South refer to the same

Lincoln makes a reference to our founding fathers at the start of his speech to remind his audience of how our nation started. Giving a description of the origin of our country depicts the purpose of America's existence. A place that was once united against one cause has become a place that is divided and against each other. Lincoln also states, "that all men are created equal" in the same area he mentions the founding fathers to position his opinion on