Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address

Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address

As I read the lines carefully of Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, I wonder how a man who is elected for his second term as president with over 54% of the popular vote, and in turn, compose such an eloquent address can be assassinated little more than a month later. In reading other commentaries concerning this address it seems to me that everyone concurs that this address is one of the finest speeches ever written by a president. Lincoln wrote other memorable speeches such as his first inaugural address, and the Gettysburg Address, which are of equally high caliber, however, his second inaugural address is considered a favorite by most critics. Even the surrounding circumstances at the time of the address are unique. There was weeks of wet weather that had caused Pennsylvania Avenue to become a sea of mud and standing water. When the thousands of spectators came to witness the address they had to stand in thick mud at the Capitol grounds. Then the most amazing thing happened . . . as Lincoln started to deliver the address, the clouds parted and a sunburst broke forth. Even the president commented in surprise about it after the address was over.

One commentary was written that said the following: “Abraham Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address, which was his favorite of all his speeches, on March 4, 1865, at the start of his second term as President of the United States. At a time when victory over the secessionists in the American Civil War was within sight and slavery had been effectively ended, Lincoln did not speak of triumph, but of loss, guilt and sin. Some see this speech as a defense of his pragmatic approach to Reconstruction, in which he sought to avoid harsh treatment of the defeated South by reminding his listeners of how wrong both sides had been in imagining what lay before them when the war began four years ago. Lincoln balanced that rejection of triumphalism, however, with recognition of the unmistakable evil of slavery, which he described in the most concrete terms possible. Unbeknownst to him, in the crowd, at his second inaugural address John Wilkes Booth, George Atzerodt, and many other conspirators involved with Lincoln's assassination. It is inscribed, along with the Gettysburg Address, in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.”

Besides Lincoln’s revered speeches, there are other things he is remembered for during his two terms as president. He is best remembered for his very important role as the leader in preserving the Union during the Civil War and beginning the process that led to the end of slavery in the United States. He is also remembered for his Godly character, his many speeches and letters, and as a man of humble beginnings whose determination and perseverance led him to become the nation’s 16th president.

The time of the speech was towards the end of the civil war, when the North and the South where still fighting after a bitter 4 year war. The battle of Gettysburg had already been fought and Lincoln had given the distinguished Gettysburg address just a few months before. He spoke of freedom, devotion, and the ideals for which he believed the Union stood. Lincoln had also already written the emancipation proclamation which had freed the slaves of the south in the previous year. The audience which gathered to hear Lincoln’s second inaugural address were there that day was in expectation that Abraham Lincoln would address the Civil War, and what he was going to do about it. The audience was supportive and filled with awe as Lincoln gave his speech, and as he spoke, the crowd was filled with a profound silence, although some passages provoked cheers, applause, moist eyes and even tearful faces.

It would seem the audience had a high expectation that Lincoln would finish what was carried on from his previous term, the Civil War. The Civil War started because the Southerners wanted to split up the Union, and have their own country which would perpetuate slavery. “One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it.” There were many slaves working in plantations in the southern states. “These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war.” Many African Americans were seeking freedom and looked to the north as their only hope, as it was considered ungodly and wrong. “To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained.” There was so much distain between the north and the south that Lincoln argues