In Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, President Lincoln addresses a divided nation. Both the Union and the Confederacy are bitter to each other towards the end of the war. However, Lincoln calls both the north and the south to set aside their issues that divided them in order to heal their broken nation. Lincoln uses a slew of rhetorical methods in his speech such as tone, diction, and syntax to further assist him in achieving his purpose of uniting the nation. Lincoln’s optimistic tone encourages all Americans to put behind them the Civil War and progress forward as a united nation once more. President Lincoln calls to action all the peoples of America with sentences such as, “let us strive on to finish the work we are in” and …show more content…
A pathway of reconciliation and healing is what President Lincoln wishes for the country. Lincoln also personifies the nation as having “wounds” which the American people must now bind up in order to heal and save the nation from death. The phrase, “bind up” invokes the emotion of healing not only the personal wounds suffered by the American people because of the war, but also the wounds of the nation as a whole. After the nations wounds have been bound, then “lasting peace” will follow, as with the unity of the nation. President Lincoln also reminds the people of their similarities and focuses on their same religious belief and God by stating, “Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God”. In doing this Lincoln emphasizes the similarities of both the north and south in order to reunite them after the Civil War crisis. Lincoln’s speech also contains a balanced syntax to highlight the idea of a united and balanced nation by using a combination of long and shot sentences in his speech. An example of a long sentence would be one like, “While the Inaugural Address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war, seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation”, and an example of a short sentence would be one like the following: “All dreaded it, all sought to avert it.” The
Lincoln’s optimistic tone attempts to persuade the audience into forgiving the South and making peace. For instance, Lincoln says, “to bind up the nation’s wounds,”, a bright and encouraging quote for the country’s future. By referring to the Union and Confederacy as a one entity, it depicts them as a single united country. What Lincoln also suggests is that the Civil War is not fatal and that the
President Abraham Lincoln used numerous rhetorical devices in his speech at the Second Inaugural Address to present the audience with the effects of the Civil War. The purpose was to edify the audience on his vision for the nation’s future. He adopts an accepting tone in order to appeal to the feelings and concerns of the men present at the Inaugural. After reading the speech, one can observe the appeal to the audience’s emotion, building of self-credibility, and the use of parallelism used by Lincoln to aid in presenting his vision for the future of the nation.
Lincoln suggests that the two thoroughly different ideas of the North and South to become one once again, as he also juxtaposes life and death in the same speech, almost as to compare the ideals of the North and South to the ideas of life and death. Lincoln matched his uniting tone with his juxtaposed exemplars. Lincoln compassion for the Civil War is shown as he mourns the loss of many fellow Americans, not differentiating between Union and Confederate soldiers. He creates juxtaposition in his final statement of a “new birth” and the obstruction of a “perished” nation. His patriotic address charms his audience into action. The usage of juxtaposition allows Lincoln to transfer the zeal in his speech into action by uniting the people of America.
Lincoln’s optimistic tone attempts to persuade the audience into forgiving the South and making peace. For instance, Lincoln says, “to bind up the nation’s wounds,”, a bright and encouraging quote for the country’s future. By referring to the Union and Confederacy as a one entity, it depicts them as a single united country. What Lincoln also suggests is that the Civil
One rhetorical strategy that Lincoln uses in his speech is repetition. An example of this is when he says, “All dreaded it, all sought to avert it.” By using “all” twice, Lincoln groups the whole American public, those sided with either the North or the South, together to evoke a sense of unity and association. No matter what side of this divide the people are on, they can relate to the idea that they did not intend for the war to happen. Another example of this is the repeated use of the words “neither,” “both,” and “each” in the third paragraph. He includes these frequently to highlight the similarities in the relationship between the North and South. In doing so, Lincoln remains neutral as to which side is to blame and is able to gain support from people on both sides of the conflict. Through his effective use of repetition, President Lincoln prompts the American people to strive for peace and unity.
In Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, He talks about the Civil War America was facing at the time. In his speech, his exaggerative diction, allusions to the Bible, and appeals to emotion helped strengthen and portray his point of view.
A war in which bloodshed took place between brothers, friends, and neighbors had luckily come to an end in 1865. Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address occurred on May 4, 1865. In his speech, he talks about how the effects of the war will eventually fade away along with the issue of slavery. Lincoln’s speech uses rhetorical devices such as tone, diction, and imagery to create and emphasize his purpose to unite the divided country. The use of these rhetorical devices allows Lincoln to achieve the purpose of his speech, which is to reunite the nation - one nation under God.
“The pattern of the prodigal is: rebellion, ruin, repentance, reconciliation, restoration” (Edwin Louis Cole). Abraham Lincoln’s “Second Inaugural Address” is a speech that highlights every point in Cole’s quote. He, Lincoln, talks about how the south manages to rebel, how their economy will be left in ruin, how they will repent and be forgiven by both God and the North, how the North and the South will reconcile, and finally he talks of how the nation will move on to restoration. Abraham Lincoln’s “Second Inaugural Address” emphasizes the reconciliation of a torn apart nation by appealing to pathos, logos, and ethos and by using diction to appeal to the listener’s emotion.
On March 4, 1865, four long years after the onset of the Civil War, United States President Abraham Lincoln presented his consolidating Second Inaugural Address with “high hope for the future.” His ideas for progression metamorphosed from “saving the Union without war,” in his First Inaugural Address, to salvaging what remained of the ruptured relationship between the North and South in his Second Inaugural Address and mending the wounds suffered by both. The president achieved his intent by using cogent parallelism paired with elaborate allusions to reveal that both the North and the South possess corresponding traits, and descriptive diction to ekove more than emotions in his audience.
On March 4, 1865, Abraham Lincoln gave his 2nd Inaugural Address. The message of his Inaugural Address is centered around the war, and how they must continue to finish what has started to move on and unite their nation. Abraham Lincoln used several rhetorical devices such as pathos which included allusions to religious texts, appeal to the audience, ethos which Lincoln established a common ground that war is a terrible thing, and lastly logos with his data on colored slaves and population along with appealing to the logic in which war is naturally a very negatively impacting thing. Lincoln uses all of these rhetorical devices to portray the message that everyone must end the war quickly and help heal their nation. Abraham Lincoln with his rhetorical
President Abraham Lincoln orated a powerful persuasive speech in his Second Inaugural Address, just one month before the end of the Civil War. This speech shed light to his contemplation of the effects of the Civil War and provided his vision for the future of the nation. Lincoln’s address was written through a logical theme that focused on the unity of the country. He used religion, specific diction, and flat-out logical thinking to convey his message. The speech was given as the Civil War was ending, and President Lincoln wanted to provide a bit of light in a very dark time. He could have given the lengthy speech that the audience expected; but instead, he gave a short message of unity that fueled the United States for years to come.
Lincoln suggests that the two exceedingly contrary ideas of the North and South to become one once again, as he also juxtaposes life and death in the same speech, as to compare the ideals of the North and South to the ideas of life and death. Lincoln matched his uniting tone with his juxtaposed exemplars. Lincoln’s compassion for the Civil War is shown as he mourns the loss of many fellow Americans, not differentiating between Union and Confederate soldiers. He creates juxtaposition in his final statement of a “new birth” and the obstruction of a “perished” nation. His patriotic address appeals his audience into action. The usage of juxtaposition allows Lincoln to transfer the zeal in his speech into action by uniting the people of America.
Lincoln speaks in a simplistic manner in order to convey his message to the common man. Prior to the start of the civil war, he made it clear that “all dreaded [the
In Lincolns first аddrеss, thе nеw prеsidеnt аppеаlеd to thе “mystic chords of mеmory” аnd to “thе bеttеr аngеls of our nаturе” to hold thе nаtion togеthеr. Sееking to аllеviаtе thе “Аpprеhеnsion thаt sееms to еxist аmong thе Southеrn Stаtеs,” Lincoln plеdgеd not to intеrfеrе with slаvеry in thе South аnd plеаdеd with thе Confеdеrаtе stаtеs to rеconcilе with thе North. Twеnty timеs hе usеd thе word “Union.” But hе аlso sеnt а clеаr mеssаgе thаt hе woUld not аllow thе Union to bе pеаcеfully dissolvеd. “Wе cаnnot sеpаrаtе,” Lincoln dеclаrеd, аnd “thе Union . . . will constitutionаlly dеfеnd, аnd mаintаin itsеlf.” Though hе wishеd for а pеаcеful rеsolution to thе conflicts
The American Civil War consisted of much loss and a significantly divided nation; however, it also served as an opportunity for President Lincoln to remind the people of their nation’s foundation of equality and unity. He gave this reminder through the “Gettysburg Address,” which even today remains a strong example of the values that the forefathers of the United States founded the nation on. The context of this speech was during a time of bloodshed and hatred, which portrays how it was a turning point in the history of the United States. The civil war is perhaps one of the most defining events in the United States’ history, as it was a test for how the nation would be perceived. Fortunately, in just 272 words, Lincoln brilliantly and movingly, reminded the disillusioned public why the Union had to fight and win the Civil War, and about a much bigger picture that was of concern: freedom and equality.