LAD #19

Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

 

 

Lincoln starts by explaining that he really has little to say.  He believes that the civil war has absorbed all of the possible power of the government and the people of the US.  At that time there was no way to make a prediction of how the conflict would end.  With his first Inaugural Address everything was about the impending outbreak of war and how the Union could be saved.  One side fought to make war and ruin the union while the other fought the war only to save the union.  A large part of the southern population was made up of slaves and their cause somehow led the nation to war.  Neither side of the conflict expected a war of such magnitude and length.  The prayers of both sides to the same God could not be answered.  If God wills it for the fighting to continue then that is what will happen.  Lincoln hopes that the nation will resolve their issues and care for those causalities caused by the fighting so that the US can once again thrive in peaceful times.