Rhetorical Analysis Essay - Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

Near the end of the Civil War, Lincoln, speaking in his Second Inaugural Address, contemplated the effects of the Civil War and offered his vision for the future of the nation by symbolizing war as an enemy against the North and South and appealing neutral with the hope of a unity between the North and South.

With his collective dictions to address how the North and South are one party, Lincoln was able to clearly personify war as the opponent of the North and South. As he describes how “all dreaded [war]” and “neither party” thought the war would last long, Lincoln reiterates the idea of unity between the North and South. The fact that Lincoln includes these collective pronouns establishes that he wants the nation to retain their American identity that they fought so hard for in the past against the British to achieve. With the idea of unity, Lincoln was clear in that it was not truly a civil war; it was a battle against war itself. This supports his perspective on the unification between the North and Side; it was evident that neither side wanted to fight, and if they did, they did not expect the conflict to last long. Lincoln then continues to emphasis war as the enemy as “the war came” to America to divide them. By transitioning the intangible word of war to a person, Lincoln highlights war as an opponent to the nation rather than the conflict occurring at the nation. This revision of the term, war, led to the realization of what they were actually fighting for: to retain their unity and not own individual reasons. Lincoln’s intended effect of personifying war is not only to alert the nation of their true goal of unity, but to clarify war as the proper enemy.

With a humble and neutral tone, Lincoln refers to biblical allusions in order to gain respect and trust from his audience. As he mentions