President Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

At the time of Lincoln's inauguration in 1861, seven states had seceded from the Union. Lincoln’s anti-slavery platform made him extremely unpopular with Southerners. He won the presidential election without the support of a single Southern state. Lincoln felt it was his sacred duty as President to preserve the Union. His first inaugural address was an appeal to the rebellious states to rejoin the nation.

Four years prior to his second Inaugural Address, President Lincoln had given a speech about war, “an impending civil war.” Now, after four years of such conflict, the President is issuing a speech of reconciliation, trying to convince his people to come back together with their Southern brethren, and try and heal the grievously wounded nation. A gifted rhetorician, the President used three primary literary tool s to make his point: parallel structure to illustrate similarities between Northerner and Southerner, allusions to the Bible to highlight the Christian values so important to both, and personification to paint the war as an evil enemy, and the nation as a wounded friend. In the second paragraph, Lincoln concludes with the parallel statements “one… would make war rather than let the nation survive… the other would accept war rather than let it parish, and the war came.”

"To care for him who shall has borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan," promised Abraham Lincoln in his second inaugural address on March 4, 1865. So the question remains, are we really keeping Lincoln 's promise all the veterans and their families? First off, who is qualified for entering for benefits and medical services? Coming from the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs or known as the VA if one enlisted after September 7, 1980, or entered active duty after October 16, 1981, and must of served for 24 continuous months, served the full time they were called to serve, and serviced actively only then is the veterans eligible to apply for help from the VA.

During the first year of the Civil War, the reunification of the United States was the only goal of the war. In the year 1862, the second year of the Civil War, President Lincoln gave his annual Congressional Address. The Congressional Address was extremely important because it changed the goal of the war from reunification of the country, to a war fought over the morality of slavery. About a year after the Congressional Address, Lincoln gave another well known speech, the Gettysburg Address. This famous speech was given after the Battle of Gettysburg to honor

Being a president is a hard job. They have to make decisions that affect the whole country, which can take a toll on anybody. With the country's hard times during Lincoln's presidency he changed. As the president he changed his views on slavery, the war, and how he was going to uphold the Constitution.

Top 100 Rhetorical Speeches: John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address In 1945, World War Two ended with the unconditional surrender of the Japanese Empire. In 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed by ten European nations, the United States of America, and Canada in order to organize a united front against the Soviet threat. In 1955, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Albania, Bulgaria, and the Soviet Union signed the Warsaw Pact as a communist counter to the capitalist NATO. In 1961, in the midst of a heated cold war, John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK) stood in front of the nation and delivered his inaugural address as the 35th president of the United States of America (USA).

The Civil War was a time period of social, political, and economic tensions. The North and South fought to decide whether to stop or continue slavery. Abraham Lincoln, the then president, addresses the two crowds before and after the war; however, in the second address, after the war, he uses specific literary devices to convey his message, of the need to end slavery. Abraham Lincoln uses varied sentence structure and appeals, in his succinct Second Inaugural Speech, to try to bring back harmony in the states and the abolitionment of slavery. Abraham Lincoln uses varied sentence structure to emphasize his message of harmony and abolition of slavery.

Religion was an element in his Second Inauguration as a part to reunite the South and the North, Lincoln wrote “Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; each invokes His aid against the other.” Religion was used on the address by Lincoln to bring together the nation and to overcome the problem of slavery instead of using religion against each

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”, said Franklin Delanor Roosevelt when addressing the audience of his first Inaugural Address. These words have proved true throughout history and throughout each and every one of our lives. Very rarely do we fail because we tried and did not succeed-more likely, however, is the scenario that we were so afraid of failing that we never bothered to try in the first place. Whether it be performing in front of a large crowd, admitting you care about someone, or trying something for the first time, all of us have been in a situation where we are afraid of failure or rejection, but what sets us apart is how we react in each of those

Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address Rhetorical Analysis The purpose of this speech is detailed in the time period. This speech was written/spoken at the end of the American Civil war. It is President Lincoln’s way of putting a tentative end to the war and a start to the recovery period. He is still oppressing the south in his diction when he states “Both parties deprecated war: but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish.

President Abraham Lincoln uses a variety of rhetorical strategies in his Second Inaugural Address to pose an argument to the American people regarding the division in the country between the northern states and the southern states. Lincoln gives this address during the American Civil War, when politics were highly debated and there was a lot of disagreement. Lincoln calls for the people of America to overcome their differences to reunite as one whole nation once more. Lincoln begins his Second Inaugural Address by discussing the American Civil War and its ramifications.

When Abraham Lincoln first became president, the Civil War was in its infancy. However, at his second election, things could not have been any more different. The country was divided and there was anger among the people of the north and the south. When Abraham Lincoln gives his speech after being elected president again, his purpose is to convince the two unions to put aside their issues that separate them and unify to heal their broken nation. Lincoln’s use of positive diction, optimistic tone, and biblical allusions help to achieve his purpose.

President Abraham Lincoln, in his inaugural address, addresses the topic of the civil war and its effects on the nation and argues that America could be unified once more. He supports his claim by using massive amounts of parallel structure and strong word choice. Lincoln ‘s purpose is to contemplate the effects of the civil war in order to unite the broken America once again. He adopts a very hopeful tone for his audience, the readers of the inaugural address and others interested in the topic of American history and the civil war.

Lincoln urges the people to “strive on to finish the work we are in,” “to bind up the nation's wounds,” he is trying to get the United Sate Citizens to become one again to unite and be one strong country, showing that even after a huge war that the country can remain strong and unified and that this war will allow for a strong brotherhood in the US. Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address is significant because Lincoln offered and objective point of view. Lincoln did not speak of the unloyalty of the South nor did he praise the North. Rather, Lincoln used multiple points to show that the Unification should be the main focus of his speech not that the states should be divided because of

Abraham Lincoln in the speech, The Gettysburg Address, constructs a point of achieving a "just and lasting peace" between the North and South without retribution. Lincoln supports his assertion by justifying his beliefs of unity between the states. Lincoln's purpose is to influence the people to not allow what has been done to go to waste. He wants his audience to realize that this division will only persist if no one settles the current issues in society. Lincoln speaks in a sympathizing, determined tone to address the Americans who are mourning the loss of their loved ones and to the rest of Americans who he wants to see a change from.