Second Inaugural Address Abraham Lincoln By Sam Hazel, Jessica Jacobs, Taylor Roddy, Katie Weaver

Abraham Lincoln 16th president of the United States Was assassinated after one month after his inaugural address Only had one year of school in his entire life Was antislavery but his main interest was preserving the Union

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND This text was written during the Civil War when Lincoln was reelected (1865) It was written because every time a president was elected he gave a speech The Civil War was almost to its end

Summary Lincoln first states that there is less occasion for an address than there was the first. Lincoln addresses the Civil War and how his main goal is to preserve the Union. He states that since one nation has split off, the other must bring it back, and since that nation will accept war rather than be destroyed, so the war came. Lincoln believes that slavery is wrong in God’s eyes. He says that God watches over both nations, but cannot answer both nations’ prayers. Lincoln states that if God chooses not to end the war then the war shall not end.

RELEVANCE Abraham Lincoln was one of the greatest presidents in American history. His Second Inaugural Address is as just as important as his first. This text is important to our nation’s history because Lincoln did what he said he would do and preserved the Union and abolished slavery.

LITERARY DEVICES “God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces.” Metaphor “...which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation.” Personification “...insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war.” Hyperbole