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Lincoln reflected on the meaning of the Civil War and the looming challenge of Reconstruction when he delivered his Second Inaugural Address on March 4, 1865.
When Lincoln gave that address on March 4, 1861, seven southern states had already seceded from the nation, and civil war was imminent. Now, after four years of a terrible national crisis, Lincoln uses his Second Inaugural to gently, but clearly, call out slavery as the reason for the war.
While the 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.
Just over a month before his assassination, Lincoln gives his brief yet poignant second Inaugural Address. With the end of the Civil War rapidly approaching, Lincoln uses the opportunity to look toward the eventual peace and reconstruction of the Union.
The Inaugural address of President Abraham Lincoln delivered at the National Capitol, March 4, 1865. (Gilder Lehrman Collection) Just 701 words long, Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address took only six or seven minutes to deliver, yet contains many of the most memorable phrases in American political oratory. The speech contained neither gloating ...
Mar 14, 2016 · English — US. Subject. History. Democracy & Civic Engagement. Human & Civil Rights. March 4, 1865. Fellow-Countrymen: 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.
Jan 18, 2021 · When Abraham Lincoln stood on the Capitol steps in March 1865, to swear the oath of office for a second term and to deliver his second inaugural address, the crowd below the bunting—soldiers...
