Lincoln's Greatest Speech: The Second InauguralAs the day for Lincoln's second inauguration drew near, Americans wondered what their sixteenth president would say about the Civil War. Would Lincoln guide the nation toward "Reconstruction"? What about the slaves? They had been emancipated, but what about the matter of suffrage? When Lincoln finally stood before his fellow countrymen on March 4, 1865, and had only 703 words to share, the American public was stunned. The President had not offered the North a victory speech, nor did he excoriate the South for the sin of slavery. Instead, he called the whole country guilty of the sin and pleaded for reconciliation and unity. In this compelling account, noted historian Ronald C. White Jr. shows how Lincoln's speech was initially greeted with confusion and hostility by many in the Union; commended by the legions of African Americans in attendance, abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass among them; and ultimately appropriated by his assassin John Wilkes Booth forty-one days later. Filled with all the facts and factors surrounding the Second Inaugural, "Lincoln's Greatest Speech" is both an important historical document and a thoughtful analysis of Lincoln's moral and rhetorical genius. |
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Page 69
... Illinois politician rose to popularity as a speaker . Even after he began to establish himself as a politi- cian and lawyer , his abilities as a speaker set him apart from colleagues and rivals . A culture oriented around the spoken ...
... Illinois politician rose to popularity as a speaker . Even after he began to establish himself as a politi- cian and lawyer , his abilities as a speaker set him apart from colleagues and rivals . A culture oriented around the spoken ...
Page 229
... Illinois Press , 1994 . ed . Lincoln Observed : Civil War Dispatches of Noah Brooks . Bal- timore : Johns Hopkins University Press , 1998 . ed . An Oral History of Abraham Lincoln : John G. Nicolay's In- terviews and Essays . Carbondale ...
... Illinois Press , 1994 . ed . Lincoln Observed : Civil War Dispatches of Noah Brooks . Bal- timore : Johns Hopkins University Press , 1998 . ed . An Oral History of Abraham Lincoln : John G. Nicolay's In- terviews and Essays . Carbondale ...
Page 234
... Illinois Press , 1998 . Wilson , Edmund . Patriotic Gore : Studies in the Literature of the American Civil War . New York : Oxford University Press , 1962 . Wilson , Woodrow . Division and Reunion : 1829-1889 . New York : Long- man and ...
... Illinois Press , 1998 . Wilson , Edmund . Patriotic Gore : Studies in the Literature of the American Civil War . New York : Oxford University Press , 1962 . Wilson , Woodrow . Division and Reunion : 1829-1889 . New York : Long- man and ...
Contents
Inauguration Day | 21 |
At this second appearing | 43 |
And the war came | 60 |
Copyright | |
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