Lincoln's Greatest Speech: The Second InauguralAfter four years of unspeakable horror and sacrifice on both sides, the Civil War was about to end. On March 4, 1865, at his Second Inaugural, President Lincoln did not offer the North the victory speech it yearned for, nor did he blame the South solely for the sin of slavery. Calling the whole nation to account, Lincoln offered a moral framework for peace and reconciliation. The speech was greeted with indifference, misunderstanding, and hostility by many in the Union. But it was a great work, the victorious culmination of Lincoln's own lifelong struggle with the issue of slavery, and he well understood it to be his most profound speech. Eventually this "with malice toward none" address would be accepted and revered as one of the greatest in the nation's history. In 703 words, delivered slowly, Lincoln transformed the meaning of the suffering brought about by the Civil War. He offered reunification, not revenge. Among those present were black soldiers and confederate deserters, ordinary citizens from all over, the black leader Frederick Douglass, the Cabinet, and other notables. John Wilkes Booth is visible in the crowd behind the president as he addresses posterity. Ronald C. White's compelling description of Lincoln's articulation of the nation's struggle and of the suffering of all -- North, South, soldier, slave -- offers new insight into Lincoln's own hard-won victory over doubt, and his promise of redemption and hope. White demonstrates with authority and passion how these words, delivered only weeks before his assassination, were the culmination of Lincoln's moral and rhetorical genius. |
Contents
17 | |
21 | |
2 At this second appearing | 43 |
3 And the war came | 60 |
4 somehow the cause of the war | 81 |
5 Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God | 100 |
6 The Almighty has His own purposes | 121 |
7 every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword | 150 |
EPILOGUE | 200 |
APPENDIX I The Text of the Second Inaugural Address | 205 |
Letter to Albert G Hodges | 207 |
Meditation on the Divine Will | 209 |
NOTES | 211 |
227 | |
238 | |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | 239 |
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abolitionists Abraham Lincoln American Bible Society asked audience battle became believed Capitol century charity Charles Charles Hodge Christian Civil coln coln’s Confederate Constitution crowd death dissole divine dome dress editor emancipation Emancipation Proclamation fatalism final paragraph Fort Pillow four Frederick Douglass friends Garrison Gettysburg God’s gural Gurley Herndon Hodge Hoge Ibid Illinois Inau inauguration day Jackson James jeremiad John judgment knew language letter Lincoln began Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Lincoln’s words malice March Meditation men’s ment nation newspapers Noah Brooks North offence party Phineas political prayer Presbyterian Presbyterian Church president presidential Princeton printed purpose re-elected reported Republican rhetoric School Presbyterian Second Inau Second Inaugural Address Seldon Connor Senate sentence sermon Seward slavery slaves South Southern speak speech Springfield Stowe Testament theological third paragraph thousand tion troops Union University Press Washington White House Whitman William wrote York Avenue York Herald
Popular passages
Page 17 - Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.
Page 19 - If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offences which, in the Providence of God, must needs come, but which having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope — fervently do we pray — that this mighty scourge...