Destiny Avery

     Destiny Avery

September 20, 2013

Period 4 A/B

AP Language

  On March 4, 1865, during the time of the civil war, President Abraham Lincoln was giving his second inaugural address; however, it wasn’t the typical speech. Lincoln came with a purpose and he had to discuss the issue at hand. President Lincoln uses personification, parallel structure and biblical allusion to achieve unification between the North and the South.

       During the civil war, the North and the South were both fighting for what they believed was right. The north wanted slavery to end, the south felt that slavery was necessary. In the north the people were wealthy and they produced three-fourths of the nation’s money. In the south most people were farmers and poor. In order to get money they planted crops like cotton, rice, sugar, and tobacco, the slaves did most of the work on the plantation. Because these two sides could not come to a consensual agreement “the war came.”

        Lincoln personifies the country by saying “to bind up the nations wounds;” he wants the people to forget about their disagreements and heal their broken country that they all love so much. He makes the people think about why ending the war will help the country and if it continues it will be detrimental to all of them. He tells them that there should be “malice towards none” and “charity for all.” By portraying this country as a wounded person, Lincoln is making the country feel guilty. If you love this country and I am pointing out to you that everything you’re doing is hurting it, why won’t you stop? The country needs love, nurture, care and support, and if the people really love this country, they would have no problem helping to “bind up” the “wounds” of our nation.

       Lincoln uses parallel structure to compare the similarities between the north and the south. Both of them have a fear in God, both of them want to avoid judgment and both of them are praying to God and asking for help. This unifies the nation by making them understand that as much as they think they are total opposites and that one of them is more right than the other, they are both wrong. We are one country and instead of being against each other and hurting one another, we need to work together to make the country as a whole a better place to be.