Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

The Confederacy, consisting of Southern states that seceded after Lincoln’s election, primarily argued for the continuation of slavery and states’ rights. This action sparked the Civil War, opposing the Union’s efforts to preserve national unity and ultimately end slavery. Lincoln addresses this division in his speech, calling for the nation to come together and “bind up the nation’s wounds” (Paragraph 4), but recognizing the deep moral conflict at the center of the war.

An inaugural address is a speech delivered by a newly elected president of the United States, outlining the administration’s intentions, vision, and guiding principles. This speech is given on the day that the president takes office.

Lincoln’s second address is one of the shortest in American history, at only 701 words. In comparison, his first address was 3,637 words. The tone of this inaugural address signaled to the nation that Lincoln’s next term would be characterized by reconciliation and an end to the war.

Reconstruction, the period after the Civil War, aimed to rebuild the nation and address the rights of freed enslaved people. Lincoln’s speech envisions a future marked by reconciliation and unity, urging “a just and lasting peace” (Paragraph 4). However, the actual Reconstruction era often fell short of these ideals, marred by political strife and resistance to equality for Black Americans. Lincoln’s hopeful perspective in his inaugural address contrasts with the realities of the Reconstruction era after his death, which did not fully realize the inclusive and healed nation he imagined.

Secession is the act of breaking off from a country. Proponents of states’ rights argued that states possessed inherent rights that could supersede federal authority, including the right to maintain slavery. One of those rights was the right to leave the Union if they felt that their rights were being infringed upon. Lincoln’s speech implicitly critiques the concept of secession used by the Confederacy. He avoids directly assigning blame but acknowledges the universally held understanding that the South’s dependence on enslaved labor fueled the flames of secession. By focusing on Slavery as the Main Cause of the Civil War, Lincoln undermines the legitimacy of the Confederacy’s claim to secede based on states’ rights.