Lincoln's Greatest Speech (eBook)

The Second Inaugural

Ronald C. White (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2002 | 1. Auflage
256 Seiten
Simon & Schuster (Verlag)
978-0-7432-4286-8 (ISBN)

Infos

After four years of unspeakable horror and sacrifice on both sides, the Civil War was about to end. On March 4, 1865, at his Second Inaugural, President Lincoln did not offer the North the victory speech it yearned for, nor did he blame the South solely for the sin of slavery. Calling the whole nation to account, Lincoln offered a moral framework for peace and reconciliation. The speech was greeted with indifference, misunderstanding, and hostility by many in the Union. But it was a great work, the victorious culmination of Lincoln's own lifelong struggle with the issue of slavery, and he well understood it to be his most profound speech. Eventually this 'with malice toward none' address would be accepted and revered as one of the greatest in the nation's history.

In 703 words, delivered slowly, Lincoln transformed the meaning of the suffering brought about by the Civil War. He offered reunification, not revenge. Among those present were black soldiers and confederate deserters, ordinary citizens from all over, the black leader Frederick Douglass, the Cabinet, and other notables. John Wilkes Booth is visible in the crowd behind the president as he addresses posterity.

Ronald C. White's compelling description of Lincoln's articulation of the nation's struggle and of the suffering of all -- North, South, soldier, slave -- offers new insight into Lincoln's own hard-won victory over doubt, and his promise of redemption and hope. White demonstrates with authority and passion how these words, delivered only weeks before his assassination, were the culmination of Lincoln's moral and rhetorical genius.

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After four years of unspeakable horror and sacrifice on both sides, the Civil War was about to end. On March 4, 1865, at his Second Inaugural, President Lincoln did not offer the North the victory speech it yearned for, nor did he blame the South solely for the sin of slavery. Calling the whole nation to account, Lincoln offered a moral framework for peace and reconciliation. The speech was greeted with indifference, misunderstanding, and hostility by many in the Union. But it was a great work, the victorious culmination of Lincoln's own lifelong struggle with the issue of slavery, and he well understood it to be his most profound speech. Eventually this "e;with malice toward none"e; address would be accepted and revered as one of the greatest in the nation's history. In 703 words, delivered slowly, Lincoln transformed the meaning of the suffering brought about by the Civil War. He offered reunification, not revenge. Among those present were black soldiers and confederate deserters, ordinary citizens from all over, the black leader Frederick Douglass, the Cabinet, and other notables. John Wilkes Booth is visible in the crowd behind the president as he addresses posterity. Ronald C. White's compelling description of Lincoln's articulation of the nation's struggle and of the suffering of all -- North, South, soldier, slave -- offers new insight into Lincoln's own hard-won victory over doubt, and his promise of redemption and hope. White demonstrates with authority and passion how these words, delivered only weeks before his assassination, were the culmination of Lincoln's moral and rhetorical genius.

Textauszug

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.

Lincoln's opening words, 'At this second appearing,' are not a throwaway line. Lincoln almost did not appear.

For much of Lincoln's first term, political pundits had predicted that he would be another of the one-term presidents that had become customary in the middle years of the nineteenth century. In the days before March 4, 1865, in a federal government that was only seventy-six years old, American as well as foreign newspapers much commented that this would be the first time in thirty-two years that a president would be inaugurated for a second term.

The Republican Party had been cobbled together in 1854 from Whig, Free Soil, Democratic, and other parties and interests. Lincoln, who had served only a single term in the House of Representatives in the late 1840s, had first attracted national attention in 1858 as a result of his performance in his debates with Senator Stephen Douglas in Illinois.

Lincoln trailed William Seward 1731/2 to 102, with Salmon Chase third, on the first ballot for presidential candidate at the 1860 Republican convention. Seward, a senator and former governor from New York, and Chase, the governor of Ohio, were both better-known politicians. Lincoln was chosen as the Republican Party's presidential candidate on the third ballot. Critics were quick to point out that the nominating convention was held at Chicago, in Lincoln's home state of Illinois. (On the eve of his second inauguration, the New York Herald reminded its readers that Lincoln was elected 'as a one-term compromise' by 'cliques' within his party.) Ever after, politicians gossiped that the relatively unknown Lincoln was put forward as an available compromise candidate in 1860.

In the midst of the elation of Lincoln's second inauguration, many could remember back a scant seven months to a quite different mood. In the summer of 1864, many of Lincoln's supporters were resigned to his having only one term. A mood of desolation pervaded the White House. Lincoln appeared weary, his lanky frame visibly sagging under the burdens of the presidency. Just a year after the decisive summer victories of '63 at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, the summer of 1864 witnessed campaigns that brought disappointment, even despair, throughout the North. In early May 1864, Grant began the year's Eastern campaign by confidently leading nearly a hundred thousand men against Lee's sixty-five thousand soldiers in the Battle of the Wilderness. In the fighting that lay ahead, at Spotsylvania and at Cold Harbor, Virginia, Grant would suffer almost sixty thousand casualties -- nearly the equal of the troops Lee put in the field. By the end of seven weeks of battles and skirmishes, the Northern public began to ask if victory was worth the swelling cost in human lives.

As casualties escalated in the North, the...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 2.6.2002
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Beruf / Finanzen / Recht / Wirtschaft ► Briefe / Präsentation / Rhetorik
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Militärgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Sprachwissenschaft
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Staat / Verwaltung
• ISBN-10: 0-7432-4286-6 / 0743242866
• ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-4286-8 / 9780743242868