Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address: summary & analysis

The whole speech in 60 seconds

In March 1865 Abraham Lincoln took the oath for a second term as president, with the Union close to winning the Civil War. He did not give a victory speech. In about 700 words he named slavery as the cause of the war, pointed out that both sides prayed to the same God, and suggested the war might be a judgment on the whole nation. Then he asked for a peace ‘With malice toward none’. About six weeks later he was assassinated.

The claim

The war came because of slavery, and its terrible length may be God’s judgment on North and South alike for that wrong. Since neither side can claim to be simply righteous, the nation should finish the war and build a just and lasting peace, with malice toward none and charity for all.

The rhetorical situation who, to whom, when, and why

SpeakerAbraham Lincoln, beginning his second term as president after four years of leading the Union through the Civil War.

AudienceThe people gathered at the Capitol for the inauguration, whom he greets as ‘Fellow-countrymen’. Beyond them, the whole divided nation, North and South, which the speech treats as sharing one judgment.

OccasionLincoln’s second inauguration, at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on March 4, 1865.

ExigenceAfter four years of war, a Union victory was in sight, and the country faced the question of how to end the fighting and reunite. Lincoln needed to say what the war had been about and in what spirit the peace should be made.

PurposeTo name slavery as the cause of the war, to warn both sides against self-righteousness, and to call for a peace built on charity instead of revenge.

ContextThe Civil War began in 1861, shortly after Lincoln’s first inauguration. He gave this address near the end of the war and was assassinated about six weeks later, in April 1865.

Place

The Capitol, Washington, D.C.

Lincoln speaks ‘from this place’, where he had given his first inaugural address four years earlier.

Time

March 4, 1865

Near the end of the Civil War, with the progress of the Union armies, as Lincoln says, ‘well known to the public’. He was assassinated about six weeks later.

What Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address says

Lincoln opens by saying a second inauguration needs less explanation than the first. Four years of public statements have left little new to say. The armies’ progress is well known and reasonably encouraging, but he makes no prediction. He looks back to his first inauguration, when everyone dreaded war and his address was devoted to saving the Union without it. At the same time, insurgent agents in the city were trying to dissolve the Union by negotiation. Both sides disliked war, but one would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came. Then he names the cause. One-eighth of the population were enslaved, concentrated in the South. Everyone knew this interest was somehow the cause of the war. The insurgents fought to strengthen, continue and extend slavery, while the government claimed only the right to limit its spread into new territory. Neither side expected so large and long a war, or that slavery might end with, or even before, the end of the fighting. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each asks for help against the other. Lincoln calls it strange that anyone would ask God’s help in living off the labor of others, but adds that we should not judge, so that we are not judged. Neither side’s prayers have been fully answered. God has his own purposes, Lincoln says. He asks listeners to suppose that slavery is an offense God allowed for a time and now wills to remove, and that the war is the woe due to North and South alike. Would such a judgment be any less just, he asks. He hopes the war will end soon, yet if it must go on until the wealth built by 250 years of unpaid labor is gone, and every drop of blood drawn by the lash is repaid by the sword, God’s judgments are still just. He closes by asking the nation to act with malice toward none and charity for all, to finish the work, to care for soldiers, widows and orphans, and to seek a just and lasting peace.

The line of reasoning how the argument moves

Lowers expectationsParagraph 1 says little new can be said and declines to predict victory. The modest opening keeps the speech from sounding like a celebration.
Retells how the war cameParagraph 2 recalls 1861, when all dreaded war, and places the choice to make war on the insurgents. Lincoln establishes shared dread before he assigns responsibility.
Names the causeParagraph 3 identifies slavery as the interest everyone knew was the cause of the war. With the history set out, the cause can be stated plainly.
Humbles both sidesParagraph 4 stresses what North and South share: surprise at the war, the same Bible, the same God and unanswered prayers. The common ground prepares listeners to accept a common judgment.
Reads the war as judgmentParagraph 5 suggests the war may be God’s punishment on North and South for slavery, and that it may last as long as justice requires. This moral center comes just before the call to action and gives that call its weight.
Calls for a charitable peaceParagraph 6 turns from judgment to action: malice toward none, charity for all, care for the wounded and bereaved, and a lasting peace. Having denied everyone the right to feel purely righteous, Lincoln can ask for mercy.

The full text paragraphs numbered for citation

¶1Fellow-countrymen: 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 energies 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.

¶2On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it—all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union, and divide effects, by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.

¶3One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the Southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union, even by war; while the government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it.

¶4Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes his aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces; but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered—that of neither has been answered fully.

¶5The Almighty has his own purposes. “Woe unto the world because of offenses! for it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.” If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through his appointed time, he now wills to remove, and that he gives to both North and South this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to him? Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, “The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”

¶6With 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.

Text: Wikisource transcription of the address as delivered at the Capitol, March 4, 1865.

Paragraph by paragraph what each part does

1

Paragraph 1: Why this speech is short

Lincoln says a second inauguration calls for less explanation than the first. Four years of statements about the war leave little new to present. He calls the Union armies’ progress reasonably satisfactory and encouraging, but ventures no prediction.

Why it mattersThe restrained opening lowers expectations and signals that this will not be a victory speech.
2

Paragraphs 2 to 3: How the war came

Lincoln recalls that in 1861 all dreaded war, while insurgent agents in the city worked to dissolve the Union. One side would make war and the other would accept it, and the war came. He then names slavery, concentrated in the South, as the interest all knew was somehow the cause, and says the insurgents sought to extend it while the government claimed only the right to restrict its spread.

Why it mattersThis short history assigns responsibility for starting the war before stating its cause. The plain statement about slavery sets up the moral argument that follows.
3

Paragraph 4: One Bible, two prayers

Neither side expected the war to be so large or so long, or that slavery might end with, or even before, the end of the fighting. Both sides read the same Bible and pray to the same God for help against each other. Lincoln calls it strange to seek God’s help in profiting from other men’s toil, but warns against judging, and notes that neither side’s prayers have been answered fully.

Why it mattersThe balanced ‘both’, ‘neither’ and ‘each’ statements humble North and South together, preparing listeners for a judgment that falls on the whole nation.
4

Paragraph 5: The Almighty’s purposes

Lincoln quotes Scripture on offenses and woe, then asks listeners to suppose that American slavery is such an offense and that the war is the woe due to North and South alike. He hopes the war will pass away quickly. Yet if it lasts until the wealth of 250 years of unpaid labor is sunk and every drop of blood drawn by the lash is repaid by the sword, he says the judgments of the Lord are still true and righteous.

Why it mattersThis theological core treats the war as a shared punishment for slavery rather than a simple triumph of right over wrong.
5

Paragraph 6: With malice toward none

Lincoln calls on the nation to act with malice toward none, charity for all, and firmness in the right as God lets them see it. He asks listeners to finish the work, bind up the nation’s wounds, care for soldiers and their widows and orphans, and seek a just and lasting peace at home and with all nations.

Why it mattersThe one-sentence conclusion turns the judgment of paragraph 5 into a program for reconciliation, which is the purpose of the whole address.

Rhetorical choices what the writer does, and why it works

Understatement

In paragraph 1 Lincoln calls the Union armies’ progress ‘reasonably satisfactory and encouraging’ and ventures no prediction. With victory in sight, the restraint keeps the audience from expecting a celebration and sets a sober tone.

Antithesis

In paragraph 2, one party ‘would make war rather than let the nation survive’ and the other ‘would accept war rather than let it perish’. The balanced contrast places the choice of war on the insurgents in calm, even language. The short sentence that follows, ‘And the war came’, states the result with no comment at all.

Parallel structure

Paragraph 4 is built on ‘Neither’, ‘Each’ and ‘Both’: neither expected such a war, each looked for an easier triumph, both read the same Bible. The repeated pairing treats North and South as equals in error and in hope, which prepares the audience for a judgment on both.

Allusion to Scripture

Paragraph 4 echoes God’s words to Adam in Genesis about eating bread by the sweat of one’s face, and adapts Jesus’s command not to judge (Matthew 7:1). Paragraph 5 quotes Matthew 18:7 on offenses and Psalm 19 on the Lord’s judgments. For listeners who, as Lincoln says, ‘read the same Bible’, these echoes give the argument the authority of a shared sacred text.

Balanced imagery

In paragraph 5, every drop of blood ‘drawn with the lash’ may have to be ‘paid by another drawn with the sword’. The matched images tie the war’s bloodshed to slavery’s violence and present the war as a repayment.

Anaphora

Paragraph 6 opens ‘With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right’. The repeated ‘with’ sets out the spirit of the peace before the list of tasks, and gives the closing call a steady, memorable rhythm.

People & audiences

Abraham Lincoln

Speaker

The president beginning his second term. He uses ‘I’ and ‘myself’ only in paragraph 1 and otherwise speaks for ‘us’, a nation under judgment.

The listeners at the Capitol

Immediate audience

Those gathered for the inauguration on March 4, 1865, greeted at the start as ‘Fellow-countrymen’.

North and South

The divided nation

The speech’s wider audience. Lincoln calls them ‘Both parties’ and ‘both North and South’, and insists they share the same Bible, the same God and the same judgment.

The insurgents

The seceded states

Lincoln never uses the word Confederacy. He speaks of ‘insurgent agents’ and ‘the insurgents’, whose object was to ‘strengthen, perpetuate, and extend’ slavery.

The enslaved

The bondmen

One-eighth of the population, according to paragraph 3. Paragraph 5 refers to ‘the bondman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil’.

The Almighty

God

Both sides pray to him, but ‘The Almighty has his own purposes’. Lincoln places final judgment of the war in his hands.

Big ideas in Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

Slavery as the cause of the warShared guiltThe limits of human certaintyJustice and mercyHealing the nation

Slavery as the cause of the war

Lincoln says all knew the slave interest was ‘somehow, the cause of the war’, and paragraph 5 asks listeners to suppose that ‘American slavery’ is the offense the war punishes. Paragraph 2 describes the war as a fight over whether the Union would survive, and paragraph 3 makes clear that slavery was the interest behind that fight.

Shared guilt

By suggesting that God gives the war ‘to both North and South’ as the woe due for slavery, Lincoln implies that the whole nation bears responsibility, not the South alone.

The limits of human certainty

‘The Almighty has his own purposes.’ Neither side’s prayers have been fully answered, so no one can claim that God simply took their side.

Justice and mercy

Paragraph 5 accepts that justice may demand still more suffering, while paragraph 6 asks for charity. The speech keeps both: judgment belongs to God, and mercy is the nation’s work.

Healing the nation

The closing asks the country to bind up its wounds and care for soldiers, widows and orphans. Peace is presented as work still to be done, not as a prize already won.

Key images

The lash and the sword

The lash stands for slavery’s violence and the sword for the war. Paragraph 5 sets them against each other as a debt and its repayment.

Wounds

In paragraph 6 the nation is a wounded body to be bound up, which makes reconciliation an act of healing.

Repeated words and ideas

Both and neither. Words that pair the two sides recur in paragraphs 2, 4 and 5: ‘Both parties’, ‘Neither party’, ‘Both read the same Bible’, ‘both North and South’. The repetition keeps North and South in the same frame.

Prayer and judgment. Prayer, judging and God’s judgments run through paragraphs 4 and 5. The movement is from human prayers that go unanswered to divine judgments that are ‘true and righteous altogether’.

Tensions and counterarguments

Victory vs. humility. The Union was close to winning, yet Lincoln declines to celebrate or predict. He answers the pull toward triumph by insisting that both sides stand under God’s judgment.

Justice vs. mercy. Paragraph 5 says the war may rightly continue until slavery’s wrongs are repaid, while paragraph 6 asks for malice toward none. Lincoln leaves judgment to God and assigns mercy to the nation.

Counterargument. Each side believed God was on its side. Lincoln answers in paragraph 4 that ‘The prayers of both could not be answered’, so neither can claim God’s approval without question.

Key quotes

“Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.”

Paragraph 2. The balanced clauses assign the choice of war to the insurgents, and the four-word sentence that follows states the result with stark simplicity.

“All knew that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war.”

Paragraph 3. Lincoln names slavery as the cause, while ‘somehow’ admits that the path from cause to war was not simple.

“Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes his aid against the other.”

Paragraph 4. The parallel clauses put North and South on equal footing before God, undercutting either side’s claim to divine favor.

“It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces; but let us judge not, that we be not judged.”

Paragraph 4. Lincoln condemns slavery through a biblical echo, then at once restrains his own judgment with another, modeling the humility he asks for.

“until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword”

Paragraph 5. The matched images present the war as repayment for slavery’s violence, the hardest claim in the speech.

“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”

Paragraph 6. The anaphora of ‘with’ sets the spirit of the peace, and the qualifier ‘as God gives us to see the right’ keeps the humility of paragraph 5.

How it ends

The conclusion of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, explained

The address ends with a single sentence in paragraph 6. It begins with three phrases that set the spirit of what follows: malice toward none, charity for all, and firmness in the right ‘as God gives us to see the right’. Then comes a list of tasks. The nation must finish the work it is in, bind up its wounds, care for ‘him who shall have borne the battle’ and for his widow and orphan, and achieve ‘a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations’. The ending depends on paragraph 5. There Lincoln suggested the war might be God’s judgment on the whole country for slavery, lasting until every drop of blood drawn by the lash was repaid by the sword. If North and South both stand under that judgment, neither has grounds for revenge. Malice toward the South, whose defeat was near but not yet complete, would claim a righteousness the speech has just denied to everyone, so the call for charity follows from the theology. The phrase ‘as God gives us to see the right’ also matters. Lincoln asks for firmness, so the war will be finished, but he admits that human sight is limited, which echoes ‘The Almighty has his own purposes’. The list itself moves from the war, to its human cost, to the peace. Finishing the work means ending the war; binding up wounds means reuniting the country; caring for soldiers and their families names the cost. The last words reach past the country to ‘all nations’, so the speech ends on peace rather than victory. About six weeks later Lincoln was assassinated, and he did not live to lead the peace this sentence describes.

Common misreadings

MythLincoln says God is on the Union’s side.

ActuallyParagraph 4 says both sides pray to the same God and ‘The prayers of both could not be answered’, and paragraph 5 says ‘The Almighty has his own purposes’. Lincoln presents the war as a judgment on North and South alike.

MythLincoln avoids naming slavery as the cause of the war.

ActuallyParagraph 3 says all knew the slave interest ‘was, somehow, the cause of the war’, and paragraph 5 names ‘American slavery’ as the offense God may now will to remove.

Myth‘With malice toward none’ means Lincoln thought both causes were equally right.

ActuallyParagraph 3 says the insurgents fought to ‘strengthen, perpetuate, and extend’ slavery, and paragraph 4 calls it strange to ask God’s help in living off other men’s toil. The call for charity is about how to make the peace, not a claim that the two causes were equal.

AP practice a rhetorical analysis prompt in the exam's style

On March 4, 1865, with the Union close to winning the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address at the Capitol. Read the address carefully. Then write an essay that analyzes the rhetorical choices Lincoln makes to prepare the nation for a peace without vengeance.

What a strong response notices

The understatement of paragraph 1, which declines to celebrate or to predict victory.
The balanced account in paragraph 2 of one side that ‘would make war’ and one that ‘would accept war’, followed by the blunt ‘And the war came.’
The paired ‘both’, ‘neither’ and ‘each’ statements in paragraph 4, which place North and South under the same God and the same uncertainty.
The Scripture in paragraphs 4 and 5 and the lash-and-sword image in paragraph 5, which present the war as a judgment on the whole nation for slavery.
The anaphora of ‘with’ in paragraph 6, which turns shared guilt into a call for charity and for care of soldiers, widows and orphans.

Practice prompt written by StoryBites, not taken from a College Board exam. See the AP Language free-response guide for how answers are scored.

Test yourself

1. Why does Lincoln say in paragraph 1 that a long address is not needed?

2. According to paragraph 3, what did all know was ‘somehow, the cause of the war’?

3. What do both sides share, according to paragraph 4?

4. How does paragraph 5 present the war?

5. Which words open the final paragraph?

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Answer

Explain it like I’m 12

In 1865 Abraham Lincoln started his second term as president. The Civil War was almost over, and the North was winning. Lincoln did not brag about it. He said slavery was the reason the war happened. He said people in the North and the South prayed to the same God, and that the war might be a punishment on the whole country for slavery. He asked Americans not to hate each other, to help the people the war had hurt, and to build a fair and lasting peace.

Compare & connect

The Gettysburg Address

Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln’s 1863 cemetery speech is even shorter and defines the war’s aim as a new birth of freedom. The Second Inaugural adds a plain statement of the war’s cause and a plan for the peace.

John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address

John F. Kennedy

Another inaugural address, given in 1961, that uses antithesis and a call to shared effort to set the tone for a presidency.

What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?

Frederick Douglass

Douglass’s 1852 speech also judges the nation by Scripture and by its own ideals, but it speaks against slavery before the war, from the side of the enslaved.

Discussion and essay prompts:

💬 Discussion questions

What is the main message of Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
What did Lincoln mean by with malice toward none
What does Lincoln say caused the Civil War in his Second Inaugural
How does Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address explore the theme of slavery as the cause of the war?
How does Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address explore the theme of shared guilt?
What is the central conflict in Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, and how does it shape the ending?

✎ Essay prompts

Analyze how Abraham Lincoln develops the theme of slavery as the cause of the war in Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. Support your argument with specific evidence from the text.
Examine the significance of the lash and the sword in Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. What does it represent, and how does it deepen the work’s meaning?
How does Abraham Lincoln use understatement to shape the reader’s experience of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address?
Some readers assume that lincoln says God is on the Union’s side. Argue for or against this interpretation, using evidence from the text.

Key questions students ask

What is the main message of Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
What did Lincoln mean by with malice toward none
What does Lincoln say caused the Civil War in his Second Inaugural
Why does Lincoln quote the Bible in his Second Inaugural Address
What rhetorical devices are in Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
What is the tone of Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address

Analysis is original StoryBites commentary. The full text and quotations follow Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address (March 4, 1865) as transcribed on Wikisource. The address is in the public domain.