Abraham Lincoln's Rhetoric During The Civil War

Isaiah Feliciano To overcome a challenge, leaders may make and deliver speeches to encourage people to work together. A common and major issue is the divisions among the populace. The three speeches, “The Gettysburg Address”, by Abraham Lincoln, “Robert Kennedy’s Remarks on the Assassination of Martin Luther King,Jr.”, by Robert Kennedy, and “Coach Boone’s Speech at Gettysburg”, by Coach Boone, attempt to encourage people overcome the challenge of disunification. One example of these leaders is during the American Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln made a speech after one of the bloodiest battles in the war, Gettysburg.

Lincoln’s political religion grounds itself in the American principle of equality. His political religion was necessary to bind the nation together in a time of dire need. The nation stood divided. One side believed it was their natural right to reap the fruits of another man’s labor, which denied his natural rights as well as his humanity, while the other side disagreed, affirming the humanity of the slaves and remained free. Lincoln pushed to change public sentiment in regard to slavery.

Throughout the establishment of the United States, there have been 44 presidents whom the people elected. A particular number of these terms have been deemed as “legendary” from the accomplishment of the president and his overall impact on American society. From these presidents, the 16th has shown to be the embodiment of this legendary status. Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, has achieved many accolades in his lifetime. He was our president during the Civil War, which was one of the bloodiest in history.

When Abraham Lincoln took t the stand for his second inaugural speech, people were surprised by the short but effective speech that was given. Abraham Lincoln talked about some of the motives each side had and their reasons. Lincoln used some rhetorical devices to not only persuade his audience, but to show them that things could get better. He uses it very efficiently to provide solutions and to see past their problems. One of the rhetorical devices used was ethos or his credibility.

Abraham Lincoln is known for his accomplishments in the Civil war as the 16th president, beginning the process of putting an end to slavery, and for his ability to show determination in his character and leadership. In the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln's undying dedication to the country was tested when he was the man who put under the most pressure in the United States at the time. Many assassination threats were put on Lincoln as he took on his duty as the President. He faced tough decisions as many of his generals were not willing to fight, many lives were lost on the battlefield and the multiple defeats were occurring for the US. He showed his support to the 13th Amendment but was assassinated by the time it ended up being passed by the Senate on April 8th, 1864 and by the house

I originally forgot to consider the European power factor in his timing and urgency, and do agree it was a strong factor in his timing. I believe more influential were the internal factors of keeping the union bonded together and not polarizing the issue that was already so much a point of contention among the Union and border states. Also I strongly agree that Lincoln was a genius in placing clear motivational distinction between the Union and Confederate, by making the North for freedom and the South against it. He intentionally made the divide bigger to motivate the Union to continue in a long war.

In the speech “Gettysburg Address,” Abraham Lincoln uses repetition to make an emotional appeal to the audience. He underscore to the people to maintain the nation in freedom and to preserve the soldiers who died at the war to fought for independence. For instance, Lincoln said, “We are met on a great battle-field of that war.” and “...we can not dedicate--we can not consecrate--we can not hallow--this ground.” In his speech he repeated the words “we” and “we can not” multiple times.

Although I very much admire President Lincoln and most of his ideals, I believe that Lincoln’s stance on the treatment of the South is far too lenient. First off, Lincoln never believed that the South had legally seceded from the union; thus, his plan for Reconstruction is based upon forgiveness rather than solely economic gain and the hopes of true reconciliation. Lincoln being elected as president was the last straw for secession for the southern states, and it can be proven that the sole reason he wishes to reunite the North and the South back into the Union is to gain support of the South. Additionally, Lincoln’s 10 percent plan, which would readmit 10% of voters from the election of 1860 in the union as well as guarantee the protection of private property to southerners, gained popularity among his

Only 18 years apart, two men spoke about the concepts of liberty. These men, John F. Kennedy and Learned Hand, spoke to civilians in wartime America. Hand gave his speech at the height of WWII. Kennedy gave his shortly after, during the cold war. Both Hand and Kennedy agreed on the same basic principles of liberty: it is directly related to freedom, it must be fought for, Hand, the federal judge who studied philosophy at Harvard, gave his speech "The Spirit of Liberty" to over 1.5 million people in 1944.

While both Abraham Lincoln’s “House Divided” speech and George Washington’s Farewell Address talks about the government and people uniting, Lincoln’s speech speaks more about slavery and Washington’s address advised warnings about the liberties necessary for the country/nation to survive. On June 16, 1858, Abraham Lincoln gave the speech at the State Republican to more than 1,000 delegates. He told them that they have to decide whether all states in the country will either promote slavery or end it completely. He states that the “government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free” because the house would not be able to stand. On the other hand, Washington’s address was published in the newspapers across the country on September