Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

The second inauguration address of Abraham Lincoln is as powerful as it is brief. He wrote a speech prompting for the end of the Civil War and the lasting vision he has for the future of the Union. Throughout the speech he uses comparisons, religion, and the moral high ground to move and rally the nation split over four years of civil war. Lincoln compares the response and lengths the North and South would go to obtain their interests. The slaves, to the South, were a “peculiar and powerful interest” since it greatly supported the Southern economy through the cotton industry. The argument boils down to the fact that the South would rather “make war...then let the Union survive” however, the North was willing to “accept war rather than let it perish” showing us that the South was fighting for the money while the North was fighting for the idea and the hope that the Founding Fathers have planted.

He sets the atmosphere of righteousness within the North by using long, lengthy sentences and words like “dreaded” to describe how the North and the South felt about the “impending civil war”. In acknowledging the morals and humanity of the enemy, Lincoln boosts himself up showing that he is the “bigger man” essentially. Lincoln also says that the government before the Civil War tried to do nothing else “than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it [slavery]” showing everyone that the North did not try to abolish slavery but merely contain it. By that logic, the South would be the aggressor seeking to tear apart the Union by their desire for economic gains beyond what they already have. This would naturally make the audience even more eager to fight for the side of justice and