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Summary Of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

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Lincoln 's second inaugural address was delivered to the citizens of the United States of America during his second inauguration before taking office as the president. He talked to the citizens about how fragmented the nation has become due to the Civil War. Lincoln uses rhetorical strategies such as repetition, parallelism, and appeal to authorities to help strengthen his points of view on the war as he gives his speech. He devotes the address to his expectations for unity toward the citizens. He concentrates on how essential it was for them to piece the remnants from the war and restore consensus among the nation. This address begins as Lincoln swears his second oath to continue his term to serve the country. He conveys the crowd …show more content…
In this, he uses the parallel structure to emphasize the strong tensions citizens are feeling at this stage and how dreadful it is to see a war coming at them but realizing how unpreventable it is. While this is what most citizens is experiencing, that was not the complete aspect on this condition. Some individuals on the opposing side rather go into war and fragment the Union further instead of solving the issue and save the Union through nonviolence. Lincoln uses juxtaposition here to attract attention to this message,"While this 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."(line 19-24) He is telling the people how dispersing unity will create problems and become one of the solitary reasons leading to …show more content…
He was also to trying to convey his audiences to feel his sincerity and care for the people. His address may have been short, but it was definitely significant. At this point of the stage, where victory was just beginning, Lincoln was still able put aside differences and put all citizens into his considerations and not forget about the Confederates. His actions are honorable and cannot be done easily. This address successfully delivers his message to the broad audience he was so concerned about. He expresses his high hopes toward the changes his people can bring to the country to aid it at this crucial point. Lincoln wishes for citizens to listen and be inspired to follow him in remodeling the nation into its best

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