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Rhetorical Analysis Of Abraham Lincoln's Inaugural Address

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Abraham Lincoln, the president of the United States addresses the nation on the date of March 4th, 1865, in order to address the Civil War. He responds to the war crisis by stating, and publicizing that the slaves needed to be free before the Civil War occurred. The war, as said by Abraham Lincoln, not only caused a split in unity between the states and citizens, but he also believed it to be a punishment delivered by God because of the treatment of the slaves. Lincoln is able to get his argument across successfully through the use of juxtapositions, allusions religion, and the use of pronouns (at the end of the speech), to create a sense of unity within the country. President Abraham Lincoln does not only address the effects and problems with the Civil War, but also what encouraged the conflict. He addresses this through juxtaposition and antithesis starting at line 24. He states, “Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, …show more content…

Lincoln states, “Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come… American slavery is one of those offenses…” Lincoln is able to use this allusion to his advantage because what he is stating is that all Americans are under one God as is said in many historical documents (such as the Pledge of Allegiance), and all worship one God. In order to achieve Lincolns purpose of uniting Americans under one nation, he uses the allusions above implicitly stating that Americans should unite together under God rather than be separated through war. Lincoln also states that, “Bothe read the bible and pray to the same God.” This creates unity and reconciliation because religion often brings different people together and in this case, it is all

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