Lincoln's First Inaugural Address Analysis

At first, Lincoln tried to avoid the topic of slavery. In fact, in his first inaugural speech, he said he would not force the emancipation of slaves onto southerners, but would also not allow it to expand to the western United States. With this notion, states began to seceded from the Union and war began to break out between the north and the south. As the war progressed and more states seceded, Lincoln began to fear he would lose the war. He was losing his funding, a large number of soldiers were dying, and the soldiers morale on the battlefield was extremely low. Every day Lincoln would become overwhelmed at the large amount of letters addressed to him about the war and the northern cause. Parents wanted to know what their sons were dying …show more content…
He begins by comparing the circumstances of four years ago to the situation currently happening. Then, he makes a reference to the Bible and how each side believed in the same God. They each prayed to God to help them defeat the other side, but just as Lincoln states, “The prayers of both could not be answered.” It is rather ironic that both the northerners and southerners were hoping for help from a higher power in the war. It seems like they both thought they needed something a little extra, which might have been the case in certain situations for both sides. Lincoln even comments about how the people in the south ask God to help them defeat the north so they can continue having their slaves. Although he does declare, “let us judge not, that we be not judged.” With this Lincoln implies that they have no right to say the south is wrong for asking God for help during the war. He believes it is not their authority to judge southerners for what they choose to do because ultimately God will make his own decisions. Also, he discusses how God had his own plan for the war, and still does. He concludes that if God wants the United States as a whole to repay the debt for all the damage they had done to fellow humans, then the war will continue until God sees fit to end