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Lincoln's Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural - Paperback | Diverse Reads

Lincoln's Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural

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As the day for Lincoln's second inauguration drew near, Americans wondered what their sixteenth president would say about the Civil War. Would Lincoln guide the nation toward “Reconstruction”? What about the slaves? They had been emancipated, but what about the matter of suffrage?

When Lincoln finally stood before his fellow countrymen on March 4, 1865, and had only 703 words to share, the American public was stunned. The President had not offered the North a victory speech, nor did he excoriate the South for the sin of slavery. Instead, he called the whole country guilty of the sin and pleaded for reconciliation and unity.

In this compelling account, noted historian Ronald C. White Jr. shows how Lincoln's speech was initially greeted with confusion and hostility by many in the Union; commended by the legions of African Americans in attendance, abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass among them; and ultimately appropriated by his assassin John Wilkes Booth forty-one days later.

Filled with all the facts and factors surrounding the Second Inaugural, Lincoln's Greatest Speech is both an important historical document and a thoughtful analysis of Lincoln's moral and rhetorical genius.

ISBN-13: 9780743299626

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Publication Date: 11-07-2006

Pages: 256

Product Dimensions: 6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.80(d)

Series: Simon & Schuster Lincoln Library

Ronald C. White Jr. is professor of American Intellectual and Religious History at San Francisco Theological Seminary, as well as the author and editor of five books. He lives in La Cañada, California.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 2: "At this second appearing..."

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. Then a statement, somewhat in detail, of a course to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention, and engrosses the enerergies [sic] of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself; and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.<

Table of Contents

Contents

Handwritten Text of the Second Inaugural

Printed Text of the Second Inaugural

  1. Inauguration Day
  2. "At this second appearing..."
  3. "And the war came."
  4. "...somehow, the cause of the war..."
  5. "Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God..."
  6. "The Almighty has His own purposes."
  7. "...every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword..."
  8. "With malice toward none; with charity for all..."
  9. "...better than anything I have produced, but...it is not immediately popular."


EPILOGUE

APPENDIX I

The Text of the Second Inaugural Address

APPENDIX II

Lincoln's "Little Speech":

Letter to Albert G. Hodges

APPENDIX III

Abraham Lincoln: "Meditation on the Divine Will"

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX TO OTHER LINCOLN TEXTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INDEX

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS