Speech: Second Inaugural Address

Context
Delivered on March 4, 1865, with the Civil War nearing its end, Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address is notably brief, reflective, and theologically inflected. Speaking to a nation exhausted by conflict, he avoids triumphalism and partisan score-settling, aiming instead to interpret the war’s meaning and chart a moral path toward peace. Lincoln reminds listeners that four years earlier he sought to preserve the Union without war; now, with vast sacrifice behind them, he asks the country to confront why the conflict happened and how it should end.

Scope and Tone
Lincoln begins by downplaying conventional inaugural rhetoric, stating there is little new to report. He reviews the onset of war: while he sought to prevent it, the insurgents pursued disunion, and negotiations failed. Both sides underestimated the war’s length and devastation. The tone is sober and chastened, emphasizing shared responsibility and the limits of human foresight. He resists demonizing the South, even as he acknowledges that the rebellion initiated hostilities, and he speaks to the entire nation as a single moral community facing a common reckoning.

Causes of the War
Lincoln defines slavery, not abstract constitutional disputes, as the war’s central cause. The South sought to extend slavery; the North aimed to restrict its spread. He notes that slavery was entrenched in the nation’s history and wealth, implicating both regions in its growth, even as it became concentrated in the South. This frank attribution strips the conflict of euphemism: the war is about “somehow” the continuation and expansion of human bondage. By elevating slavery as the decisive issue, Lincoln reframes the Union war effort as not only a political struggle but a moral one.

Providence and Judgment
The address’s core is theological. Lincoln observes that both sides “read the same Bible and pray to the same God,” yet neither’s prayers for an easy victory have been granted. He suggests that the war may be divine judgment for the “offense” of slavery. In language both tender and unsparing, he prays for a speedy end to the “mighty scourge,” but concedes that if God wills the conflict to continue “until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s 250 years of unrequited toil shall be sunk,” then the judgments of the Lord are “true and righteous altogether.” This framing enjoins humility: the nation must accept that human purposes are subordinate to a higher moral order.

Call to Reconciliation
Lincoln closes with the most remembered passage, articulating a disciplined, compassionate Reconstruction ethos: “With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right.” He urges the nation to bind up its wounds, care for veterans and their families, and pursue a “just and lasting peace” at home and abroad. The appeal balances justice and mercy, coupling moral conviction with generosity toward former enemies. The speech thus becomes a blueprint for reunification grounded in truth about slavery, humility before providence, and a civic ethic of care that seeks to transform victory into reconciliation.