One month prior to the end of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln gave his Second Inaugural Address. The address, spoken before his second term as president, was intended to give his views on the causes of the Civil War and to list reasons why the war started. In the speech, Lincoln addresses the reasons and causes of the war and tries to bring the North and South together. In order to convince the two to unite once more, Lincoln uses alliteration, allusion, synecdoche, and metonymy to make his point and purpose clear. Lincoln utilizes alliteration in order to achieve his purpose of uniting the two unions together. In the second paragraph, he uses words such as dreaded, delivered, devoted, destroy, dissolve, and divide to draw the …show more content…
In a reference to slave labor, Lincoln states, “... wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces.” This refers to the fact that slave owners do not work for their own food, but the slaves do the labor instead. This reference shows the audience that slavery was a common issue during that time and Lincoln was doing his best to prevent it. The line is another way for Lincoln to mention the effects of the Civil War and continue to persuade his audience to unite once more. In relation to synecdoche, Lincoln uses metonymy to convey his message to the audience. Lincoln states, “every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword,” to show that the war would not officially end until the soldiers experienced what the slaves dealt with. He does this in order to to show that slavery cannot end without unification of the two unions. He also alludes to the fact that the war will not end without justice being given to the slaves. To unite the nation, Lincoln used alliteration, allusion, and synecdoche in his Second Inaugural Speech. By using rhetoric, Lincoln attempts to achieve his purpose of uniting the North and South. He appealed to the emotions of his audience to successfully convince them to
It would be more than difficult not to read Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address without some sense of pride or honor for one’s own country. He brings about a call to civility among all citizens striving for unity and harmony with one another. Lincoln understood the dilemma that slavery became for not only the Northerners attempting to abolish the practice entirely, but also for the Southerners perpetuating it in the first place. The fact that there was a faction rising in favor of slavery on a scale that would divide the country indefinitely and that Lincoln foresaw this danger demonstrates the level of prudence he was able to acquire up until his presidency. In this address, Lincoln stressed the importance of the nation staying unified and true to the principles set by
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.
In his Second Inaugural Address, President Abraham Lincoln had one purpose; to cast a vision of the nation’s future. To achieve this purpose, Lincoln appeals to the audience’s emotion and includes biblical allusions. By appealing to the audience’s emotion, Lincoln creates a stronger connection which leads to the audience becoming more open, and thus more feasible to Lincoln’s vision. To do this, Lincoln introduces the 2 opposing sides as one audience by using the word “all.” By stating that “all dreaded it, all sought to avert it” (18-19), Lincoln creates a link between the audience and himself which sets up the opportunity to influence the audience’s emotions.
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.
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
Abe Lincoln, in his second inaugural address, uses language with which the audience can connect and relate. Through inclusive pronouns, parallel sentence structure, pathos, and metaphors, Lincoln does not simply list off what the war has entailed or recommend a certain path the people must take. Lincoln instead consoles the nation as if it was a dear old friend whom is in dire need of advice. The first rhetorical strategy Lincoln used was inclusive pronouns such as “we”, “us”, and “all”. Additionally, the president began the address with the inviting words “Fellow Countrymen”.
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.
Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, the third shortest inaugural address in US history, was delivered on March 4, 1865 in front of the US Capitol. In just over a month, the Civil War would be over. Already the Thirteenth Amendment has abolished slavery, and only Generals Lee and Johnston with a small force stand against a Union army 280,000 strong. Despite an inevitably victorious North, President Lincoln’s speech is somber and speaks only of the wounds rendered in this great nation, suggesting that slavery had offended God and that the war acted as a form of divine retribution. Through rhetoric, Lincoln heeds the American people to reunite and move past their disagreements.
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.”
In this election, Lincoln and Douglas had some series of debates over slavery. Although Lincoln never exactly stated that he wanted to abolish slavery, much of the South believed he was an Abolitionist. At his speech in 1858 in Springfield Illinois, Lincoln wanted the nation to be one thing or another, meaning all free or all slave, because it couldn’t keep going on how it was, else it would fall apart. In his speech, Lincoln said, “...but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other” (Doc G).
To begin, President Lincoln strengthens his points by using parallel structure in paragraph by exclaiming “All dreaded it, all sought to avert it”. By stating this, Lincoln brings together the two very distinct viewpoints by showing that both wanted to advert and stray from the war, knowing neither could due to previous circumstances. Parallel structure entails unification of the two sides of the battle, uniting them through a relatable idea and overall accomplishing the goal of his inaugural address, bonding the confederacy and the union back together. Another example of his use of parallel structure includes his expansion upon the idea that neither side wanted to start the war: “Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict may cease…the conflict itself should cease.” Lincoln indicates that he understands both
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
In his Second Inaugural Address speech by Abraham Lincoln, incorporates biblical references and compares the North and South in order to bring them together and unite the country. Lincoln indirectly questions the ethics behind owning slaves by referring to the bible and reveals the South using God as an excuse for racism. Quoting the bible, Lincoln concludes that “He now wills to remove” implying that God wishes to abolish slavery. The former president convoys God to have “his own purposes” suggesting to leave the war in God's hands.
In “The Gettysburg Address”,Abraham LIncoln implements alliteration, parallelism, and repetition throughout his writing to remember the men that died at Gettysburg, and to motivate the people of the United States to continue the work of the dead, and to give the dead meaning. In his speech, Abraham Lincoln utilizes alliteration, in his first sentence, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth”, he uses the same sound in “Four score”, “fathers”, and “forth”, he does this to reinforce the meaning, it unifies his ideas, and helps him introduce the topic he is going to talk about. He talks about what the country was founded on, which is equality.
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.