President Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address Aimed to Unite a Divided Nation
An illustration of the second inauguration of President Abraham Lincoln
On March 4, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln gave his second inaugural address. At the time, the Union was on the cusp of defeating the Confederate States and ending the Civil War — a victory which marked the end of slavery in the United States. As such, President Lincoln’s second inauguration was a special event and celebrated by many across the country. Although the Union was victorious, President Lincoln still had to address the other half of the county; namely the American South where the institution of slavery had endured for generations.
The most famous photograph taken at President Lincoln’s second inauguration. Lincoln can be seen in the center of the photo, standing above a small table, holding papers.
When drafting his address, President Lincoln faced the challenge of speaking to a soon-to-be-reunited yet still deeply divided nation. He wrote, “[b]oth parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish.”
The cause of the Civil War was slavery, and during his address Lincoln insisted that slavery itself was a singular moral issue which the entire nation had been forced to confront. In the wake of this bloody confrontation, President Lincoln wrote, “[w]ith 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.”
President Lincoln knew that the United States could only thrive if it was truly united. This meant that both North and South needed to come to terms with the tragedy they had just endured, while allowing for forgiveness; to strive for acceptance and respect of all people regardless of skin color, political views, or differing opinions. President Lincoln’s speech was calling for the "re-United States," It was a summons that the nation once again come together for the wellbeing of all people.
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