Abraham Lincoln delivered the second inaugural address on March 4, 1865. At this time, the country was torn by years of devastating war, however the forces of the North were nearing the victory over the Confederates. Lincoln had to take into account these circumstances when addressing the nation. And he certainly did that, as a detailed analysis of his speech suggests. Lincoln’s second inaugural address involves the effective use of rhetorical appeals and rhetorical devices as well as addresses the specifics of the audience, place, and time, which makes it an efficient political speech.
The audience of this speech was very miscellaneous. It consisted of people of different walks of life – Lincoln's fellow politicians as well as common people. The public who listened to Lincoln's second inaugural address were tired by the prolonged war and, quite possibly, were seeking answers as to the causes and consequences of this war. The Civil War was an extremely destructive event both in terms of material goods and in terms of the spirit of the divided nation, hence the people whom Lincoln was about to govern and guide for the second time expected their President to give them answers and restore the ruins of the Union. It is clear that Lincoln's second inaugural address responds well the circumstances under which it was delivered.
The ethos component of Lincoln’s second inaugural address is well-thought and well-presented. First and foremost, the speaker seeks to establish his credibility by referring to his first term as President. He starts the speech by emphasizing that this is his second inaugural address and that the first was delivered under very different circumstances: “At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first” (Lincoln). Thus, Lincoln demonstrates the explicit connection between him and the years preceding his taking the oath for the second time. This is a very important move because it makes him a credible source of information regarding the political situation in the country.
Lincoln's second inaugural address is a logically constructed speech. The speaker has one line of development of thought and he does not deviate from it in the course of the entire speech. Lincoln starts with establishing his credibility as President and bringing the audience back to the same place four years ago when the conflict between the North and the South was only rising. Afterward, the speaker invites the audience to reflect upon the course which this conflict took during the last four years. The speech touches upon the causes of the war, the cornerstone of the disagreement between the North and the South, the way which the war progressed and the way it should be finished. Lincoln's call for action to restore the nation in the end of the speech follows logically from the preceding remarks.
Like any well-crafted political speech, Lincoln's second inaugural address extensively appeals to emotions. Finding themselves amidst the ruins of the Civil War, Americans were expected their President to give them inspiration to carry on despite problems and hardships. Lincoln implicitly addresses this longing in his speech. First and foremost, he appeals to the sentiment of patriotism. In the introduction, the speaker states: “The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all” (Lincoln). Another sentiment to which Lincoln appeals is the opposition between good “us” and bad “them”. Given the circumstances, the speech is almost entirely built on the antagonism between the North and the South with the former trying to preserve the Union and the latter trying to destroy it. The following example clearly illustrates this point: “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” (Lincoln). Yet, Lincoln knew better than to vulgarly exploit the glittering expectation of the nearing military triumph. The speaker concludes his address with the call for standing tall to the challenges which are yet to be faced, not for celebrating the victory of their arms and their way of life over that of the South: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds” (Lincoln). It is worth noticing that, despite the fact that Lincoln's speech appeals to emotions of the audience extensively, those appeals are subtle and wrapped in well-crafted eloquent metaphors rather than call out explicitly.
The use of paradox and opposition is frequent in the analyzed speech. This technique allowed Lincoln to emphasize that nothing about the political situation at the time the speech was delivered was cut-and-dried. For example, Lincoln describes the belligerent sides in the Civil War in the following way: “The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully”(Lincoln). Thus, even though at that point it was quite clear that the South was going to be defeated, Lincoln rejects conceited rejoicing regarding the near victory and emphasizes that neither of the sides is truly victorious because many lives were lost and a lot of destruction was caused by the war which could have been avoided. Yet, Lincoln does not regret this war. The use of opposition and paradox allows him to make his indignation regarding the South less aggressive, but certainly not less determined. Due to this technique, Lincoln's speech has a profound impact of the audience: the listeners are told about a paradoxical situation where neither of the parties wants the war, but they end up in the war anyway.
One of the most notable features of the speech in question is the extensive use of Biblical allusions. Considering that the speech was delivered in the middle of the nineteenth century, one should take into account that religion, namely Christianity, played a very important role in people's lives. The most striking effect of the references to religion lies in the emphasis of the same religious affiliation of both belligerents in the Civil War: “Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other” (Lincoln). The warring sides were in fact united by the powerful factor of religion, but even this trait in common could not prevent the destructive and abhorrent conflict which the Civil War was. Yet, Lincoln adduces the Bible to justify the position of the North with regard to slavery.
Any speech is hardly good and effective without figurative language. This technique allows to influence the audience not only with the literal meaning of the used vocabulary, but also with associations and connotations which words inevitably bear. Lincoln's second inaugural address makes a good use of metaphors in order to support the antithesis of the North and the South. The following metaphor is a fine example of figurative language in Lincoln's speech: “until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword” (Lincoln). It makes use of the pre-existing idiom “to the last drop of blood” and places it in the context of the fight for justice and against slavery. Blood is closely associated with life, hence by using this metaphor Lincoln makes it clear that slavery draws life from the nation as does the war.
Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address has been long recognized as a masterpiece of political speech. The speaker effectively employs the appeals to logos pathos and ethos as well as makes use of various rhetorical devices to deliver an effective speech. It is also clear that this piece is crafted with taking into account its audience and the external circumstances of its delivery.
Works Cited
Lincoln, Abraham. Second Inaugural Address. March 4, 1865. Web.
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/lincoln2.asp
