Abraham Lincoln – 2nd Inaugural Address

The Civil War was a time period where the nation was isolated into two regions, the emancipated North and the captive South. The war settled two constitutional questions, whether the United States was to be a segregated confederation of self-governing states or a unified nation with an autonomous national government, and whether this nation, where all men were conceive with an equal right to liberty, would prevail as the largest slaveholding country in the world. After bearing the nation’s agony on his shoulders for four lengthy years, President Abraham Lincoln in his Second Inaugural Address deliberated the outgrowths of the civil war and revealed his vision of unity and forgiveness for the future of the nation.

In his Second Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln adopts rhetorical devices appealing to his audience’s credibility and emotions to settle the purpose of his speech in merging a broken nation through the abolition of slavery. Lincoln articulates the cause of the war, slavery, in the saying “These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war”. Throughout the speech, he outlines American slavery as the harrowing offense that God wills to remove for the well-being and future of slaves.

Lincoln insinuated to the common base the North and the South share, particularly religiously, as he asserts “Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God.” Lincoln amplifies his speech by using allusions from the Bible, such as, “The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether” and “Woe unto the world because of offenses.” These moral citations associated the Union with the Confederacy, recalling them of their mutual principles and spiritual intentions. With the endorsement of these quotes, Lincoln aimed to establish a sense of national