LAD #15: Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address

On Saturday, March 4, 1865 Abraham Lincoln made his Second Inaugural Speech for his second term as president. He states that the speech would not be as detailed as his first one since, at the time there was not much he could talk about. Although it was almost the end of the civil war, and although slavery had almost ended, Lincoln stated that it was not a time for celebration but a time for remorse. He states that it was a horrible war in that brothers fought brothers, and countrymen fought countrymen. He also says that we should all be taking care of each other. He closes out his speech saying “With 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.” This meant that he was going to do his best to end the war, with no hard feelings, and that he was going to repair all that was damaged during the war, physically and mentally.