Abraham Lincolns Second Inaugural Address

Description

About Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address

Delivered on March 4, 1865, just weeks before the end of the Civil War and 41 days before his assassination, Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address is considered one of the greatest speeches in American history. In fewer than 700 words, Lincoln offered a profound meditation on the war’s meaning and a vision for national reconciliation.

Historical Context

By March 1865, Union victory was assured. Richmond would fall within a month, and Lee would surrender at Appomattox within six weeks. Lincoln could have delivered a triumphant speech celebrating victory; instead, he offered something far more profound—a theological interpretation of the war and a call for mercy.

Key Themes

• Slavery as the Cause: Lincoln explicitly named slavery as the war’s cause: “These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war”
• Divine Judgment: The war was God’s punishment on both North and South for the sin of slavery
• Shared Guilt: Both sides “read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other”
• Charity Toward All: The famous conclusion calling for reconciliation

The Immortal Conclusion

“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, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

Legacy

Lincoln considered it his finest speech. Frederick Douglass called it “a sacred effort.” Its message of mercy and reconciliation, tragically cut short by assassination, continues to offer guidance for healing national divisions.

This free ebook edition presents Lincoln’s complete address, a masterpiece of moral vision and rhetorical power.