Rhetorical Analysis Of Lincoln's Inaugural Address

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 speech by Abraham Lincoln, incorporates biblical references and compares the North and South in order to bring them together and unite the country.

During a time in history when the United States was as divided as it had ever been, Abraham Lincoln delivered his Second Inaugural Address. The Civil War had been raging for four years, and victory was in sight for the Union. Many northern politicians wanted Lincoln to harshly punish and humiliate the South for all of the violence that its succession had caused. However, part of the wisdom that turned Lincoln into an iconic president was his intent to end the war “with malice towards none, with charity for all” and “ to bind up the nation's wounds, [and] to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan” (Second Inaugural Address). He was not just talking about helping the Union soldiers and their families, but also the Confederates, because he realized that there would be no lasting peace if the South surrendered but was then left destitute and bitter. This wisdom can be applied to almost any conflict. The goal is to win, but the cost of defeat to the other side, and how that may affect the future, is always in the mind of someone wise like Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln addresseshis concern with a captivating use of Antithesis where he goes in further detail to what The Civil War was all about. Lincoln declares,"The World will little note, nor long remember what

Abolition of slavery was a big controversy in the United State of America in the nineteenth century due to the different stances between northern and southern states which led to the American Civil war. At the present time, Abraham Lincoln was the president of the United States who supported the north (Union) thought that free the slave could help him united all the states. As the result, he passed out the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, which give freedom to slaves in the states that the Union did not control. After the war, he issued the Thirteenth Amendment on December 6, 1865, to free all slaves. Although Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery, he did not deserve to be call “ The Great Emancipator” because he freed the slaves for war purpose, only part of the slaves were freed at first, and he did not know what to do to abolish 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.

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

In the clause, “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right . . .” Lincoln uses an anaphora, the repetition of the same words at the start of consecutive clauses. In the beginning of each clause in our

He ends his hopeful message by saying “to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations” (Lincoln). This final message from President Lincoln in his address clearly demonstrates his overarching purpose- to instill a sense of togetherness in the American people as a whole. It was purposeful when Lincoln ended his address with this message. It held a strong message of peace and bonding together so that Lincoln’s address would have a lasting impact on Americans. Lincoln uses optimistic diction when employing words such as "cherish" and "lasting peace" to convey a message of harmony. 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.

I will be writing about how Lincoln’s killer John W. Booth as he assassinated Mr. Abraham. His plans continued to fail, but he kept trying. John came from a long line of family with good fortune.

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.

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.

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. This is a very fundamental moment in his speech. He is uplifting the north and stating that the south should have a bigger punishment than it received. It shows his grace and appreciation for the south and gives hope to the reconstruction that is about to take place.

A question that has left many Americans puzzled is, was the civil was inevitable? Could the United States of America survived without the famous war? Would America be split in half? To answer this question one must look back and the reason the civil war happened and how it affected America.

A House Divided: The Causes and Effects of the Civil War in the Institution of Slavery, The Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the Militant Presidency of Abraham Lincoln