Rhetorical Analysis Of President Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

President Lincoln addresses the countrymen of the United States in his second inaugural address to discuss the closing efforts of the civil war and how the war should not go in vain, but that it should benefit the country and preserve the nation’s democracy amongst all the nation’s people. In his address he uses biblical references and literary devices to tell how he would ike the effects of the war to be progressive and not without reason,
In lincoln’s opening paragraph he sets the tone for the speech. When addressing the audience he says, “Fellow-Countrymen”, and by doing that he develops trust from his audience by owning that he is a mere countryman himself. He also establishes credibility in his opening paragraph when he says, “At this …show more content…
He creates a logical argument by saying “ All dreaded it, all sought to avert it.” because the south wanted to succeed from the union so they could continue slavery while the north didn't want the continuation of slavery and Lincoln didn't want the south to succeed from the union and with these reasons neither side wanted a war. The union was willing to negotiate to a certain degree but the south didn't want any negotiations they wanted succession or to continue slavery which they could not get so they would rather go to war. The purpose for using this logical argument was to address that the war was bound to happen and would lead him to give this second …show more content…
“One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves...localized in the southern part..” with this opening sentence he shifts more towards addressing the purpose of why the Civil War happened. Following the shift he names three similarities shared by the union and the south which were: neither party knew it would grow so large or last so long, neither would think the cause of the war would resolve before the war itself, and both wanted a easy victory when stating the similarities he reminds the audience that in the beginning the union had the same mind set they just let the differences overrule them. “Both read the same Bible and pray to to the same God , and each invokes His aid against the other.” when lincoln says this he is explaining that they are bound to not be successful because the prayers made by the black people were always against the southerners and that God had been wanting to correct the wrong that had been made against them. Assuming his audience was religious this appeal was logical as well as a biblical reference because the almighty works in mysterious ways and they would believe that he has a purpose and meaningful reason for not answering the prayers made by the south because slavery was an abomination in his eyes. “The prayers of both could not be answered” this statement is justified by the defeat of the south made by the north. “Fondly do we hope, fervently