Summary Of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address was about the Civil war that had just ended between the North and South, in which the former had won. Lincoln recognized that both sides did not want the war, but both had to commit to it so that their goals can be reached. He also noted that neither party could have predicted that the war would become so large and last so long. Lincoln’s purpose of his speech is to unify the North and South parties that were torn apart from this war. With what Lincoln says in his speech, he helped achieved his goal of unity for this ruined nation. One way that Lincoln helped unify the North and South was that he stated that the two had similar goals and wants. He says that, “Both parties deprecated war;
Lincoln says the final paragraph before his conclusion, “If we 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 the 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?” (280). Lincoln says all of this to show that slavery is an offense to God that has lasted long enough to be punishable. So to punish the North for allowing slavery to happen for so long and the South committing the offense of slavery, God gave the two sides the Civil war. With this in mind, the North and South now finds themselves both having gone through the same punishment for slightly different crimes against God. Lincoln builds a sort of camaraderie between two offenders who have served their crimes, and helps unify the North and South, bringing the nation