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The role of Abraham Lincoln in the Civil War
Abraham Lincoln biography essay
The role of Abraham Lincoln in the Civil War
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Abraham Lincoln’s Rhetoric & The Civil War
Abraham Lincoln was a great orator and an incredibly intelligent man, and his ability to use these skills won him the presidency and then allowed him to eventually keep the Union together, even through the inevitable Civil War. Through the Civil War, Lincoln provided extremely strong leadership and gave multiple powerful speeches including both of his inaugural addresses and his Gettysburg Address. All of these speeches shared the same objective of keeping America united, but they took different approaches to this goal, following the ups and downs of the Civil War. Although Lincoln’s speeches varied through the years, they were all extremely powerful and effective at achieving the particular goal
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Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address was extremely brief, but also extremely powerful as it fully achieved these goals, providing a morale boost that offered the tired Union soldiers support during the middle of the war, and further propelled the soldiers through the rest of the war. As Lincoln began to wrap up his extremely brief speech, he said: “It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.” Lincoln spoke of “the unfinished work” meaning the still continuing Civil War, and he argued that the Northern soldiers had to continue to fight for the cause of saving the Union because they had not achieved their goal yet. This whole speech was rhetorically pathetic, as Lincoln succeeded at reaching the hearts of his audience, convincing them that they needed to continue fighting the Civil War until they emerged victorious. He glorified the fallen soldiers in this line, and he said that they “nobly advanced” the cause of saving the Union, simultaneously implying that other soldiers could gain the same glory by continuing to …show more content…
Nevertheless, the speech still maintained a biting, and somewhat accusatory edge, as Lincoln also used this speech to make it explicitly clear that the Civil War was the South’s fault due to their own poor decisions. Near the beginning of his speech, Lincoln quickly made it unequivocal that the South was at fault as he said: “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.” He argued that the South “would make war rather than let the nation survive” insinuating that the South instead wanted to “let [the Union] perish.” However, even as he accused the South of trying to destroy the Union, he also raised them up slightly as he said that “both parties deprecated war.” In this simple clause, Lincoln gave the South credit for not actually wanting war, hinting at the fact that he was willing to forgive the South if they would peacefully reenter the Union. Even so, through the speech, Lincoln addressed the South as “insurgents,” further highlighting the fact that he believed the
The Gettysburg Address given by President Lincoln in the November following the Battle of Gettysburg acted as a call to arms. This speech gave the North a sense of pride and reassured them that they did have a chance at winning the Civil War. In The Gettysburg Address, Lincoln tells the audience not to let the men who died in the battle die in vain he tells them that their dedication will lead to a “new birth of freedom” in the nation(document D). This newly found sense of pride and hope led confidence which was something that the Confederate army was lacking at the
Disapproval, the Confederacy, and slavery were amongst the many crises Abraham Lincoln faced when addressing his First Inaugural speech (Lincoln, First Inaugural, p.37). Above all, Lincoln’s speech was stepping on the boundaries of the southern slave states. Once states began to secede, new territories formed and the disapproval of Lincoln grew. Despite Lincoln’s attempts of unifying the antislavery and confederate views, many whites refused to follow his untraditional beliefs. Lincoln encountered hostile and admirable emotions from the people of the Union and the Confederacy. However, despite his representation of the Union, not everyone agreed with his views.
Four and a half months after the Union defeated the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863. He gave the Union soldiers a new perspective on the war and something to fight for. Before the address, the Civil War was based solely on states’ rights. Lincoln’s speech has the essence of America and the ideals that were put into the Declaration of Independence by the founders. The sixteenth president of the United States was capable of using his speech to turn a war on states rights to a war on slavery and upholding the principles that America was founded upon. By turning the Civil War into a war that was about slavery he was able to ensure that no foreign country would recognize the south as an independent nation, thus ensuring Union success in the war. In his speech, Lincoln used the rhetorical devices of juxtaposition, repetition, and parallelism.
One of Lincoln’s most famous quotes is “A House divided against itself cannot stand.” This describes his presidency well- focusing on maintaining the Union. In the beginning, Lincoln tried to stay out of sensitive affairs involving the North and South in an attempt to keep them together, promising the South little interference. Despite this, he played a key role in passing the Thirteenth Amendment, doing whatever it takes to end slavery for good and ending the Civil War.
'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.' In the delivery of Lincoln's 'Second Inaugural,' many were inspired by this uplifting and keen speech. It had been a long war, and Lincoln was concerned about the destruction that had taken place. Worn-out from seeing families torn apart and friendships eradicated, he interpreted his inaugural address. It was March of 1865, and the war, he believed, must come to an end before it was too late. The annihilation that had taken place was tragic, and Lincoln brawled for a closure. The 'Second Inaugural' was very influential, formal, and emotional.
By turning the Civil War into a war about slavery he effortlessly ensured that no foreign country would recognize the South as an independent nation, ensuring Union success in the war. In his speech, Lincoln used the rhetorical devices of juxtaposition, repetition, and parallelism, to touch the hearts of its listeners. Lincoln had numerous purposes for the Gettysburg Address. Firstly, it was to be used to dedicate the land where the Battle of Gettysburg had taken place as a cemetery for the fallen troops of both the North and the South, the most apparent and central reason for his address. His second purpose for the address was to transform the war on states’ rights into a war on slavery and upholding the ideals that the Founders had authored in the Declaration of Independence.
Lincoln’s optimistic tone encourages all Americans to put behind them the Civil War and progress forward as a united nation once more. President Lincoln calls to action all the peoples of America with sentences such as, “let us strive on to finish the work we are in” and “ to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace”. The tone that President Lincoln capitalizes on is purposefully optimistic because he hopes to end the war and move past the issue of slavery, among others, which has divided the nation, and he wishes to safeguard the nations reunification. Lincoln’s tone also has hortative sentences such as asking the American people to “strive”. President Lincoln also wishes to rid both sides of any grudges or rancor they may feel towards one another for the war by reflecting that “all sought to avert it” and by articulating, “Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it…attained”. And towards the end of his speech, Lincoln calls the nation to be unified “with malice towards none, with charity for all” so that their minds and souls may be cleared of any ill will in order for the nation’s reunification to be permanent and not just superficial. President Lincoln evokes the nation as a whole to a higher degree in hop...
Abraham Lincoln, Former president and also a general in the war, gave a speech to uphold and encourage the spirits of the weary soldiers in his army. The speech was called the Gettysburg Address. Lincoln was very specific and delicate with his tone in order to encourage the weak, acknowledge the deceased, and motivate the detoured.
Abraham Lincoln’s greatest challenge during his presidency was preserving the Union during the Civil War after the Southern states seceded from the Union. There were many dividing issues in the U.S. before his election in 1860, and his presidential victory was the final straw that led to the Civil War. The North and the South were already separating due to regional differences, socially, politically, culturally, and economically. Slavery was one of the biggest factors that led to the division between the North and the South. Preserving the Union while half of the country refused to regard federal law while in secession was extremely challenging, yet Abraham Lincoln decided to fight war against the South not only for the sake of abolishing slavery, but most importantly for the sake of preserving the Union. He was dedicated to fighting for the equality of all men in the U.S., as mentioned in his famous Gettysburg Address: "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." He used this to argue a basic point: if all men are created equal, then all men are free. His House Divided speech showed his determination to keep the...
By the time of his speech South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas had already seceded from the Union. In his speech Lincoln had three main points: “to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the government,” secession was impossible because the Union was unbreakable, and that any use of arms against the United States would be met with force but he would never be first to attack (Grafton 80). Lincoln aspired to increase his support in the North without alienating the South where most disliked him in fear of the end of slavery. In his speech however, Lincoln made it clear that his intention was not to interfere with slavery quoting “I have no purpose, directly, or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so” (Grafton 81). In hope to make amends with the South Lincoln closed by saying “We are not enemies, but friends. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature” (Grafton 81). Although meant to unify the North and South, this address had a larger impact on another
On July 1st, 1863 Confederate General Robert E. Lee and Union General George C. Meade transformed Gettysburg, Pennsylvania into a battleground for the Civil War,the battle ended July 3rd, 1863. David Wills was charged by Pennsylvania 's Governor Andrew Curtin to clean up after the battle, part of the battlefield was converted into a gravel site for the soldiers. Later on November 2nd, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln received an invitation from Wills to speak at the dedication ceremony for the soldiers who lost their lives.
Contrary to what today’s society believes about Lincoln, he was not a popular man with the South at this period in time. The South wanted to expand towards the West but Lincoln created a geographical containment rule keeping slavery in the states it currently resided in. Despite his trying to rationalize with the South, Lincoln actually believed something different ”Lincoln claimed that he, like the Founding Fathers, saw slavery in the Old South as regrettable reality whose expansion could and should be arrested, thereby putting it on the long and gradual road ”ultimate extinction” (216). He believed it to be “evil” thus “implying that free southerners were evil for defending it”(275). Lincoln wanted to wipe out slavery for good and the South could sense his secret motives. By trying to trick them, the South rebelled as soon as Lincoln became president and launched what is today known as the Civil war.
At 7:30am, on Wednesday, July 1st, 1863, at the intersection of Knoxlyn Rd and US Rt. 30 Chambersburg Pike, a shot was fired by Lieutenant Marcellus Jones. This shot would not be forgotten, as it was the beginning of what would turn into one of the biggest turning points of the Civil War; The Battle of Gettysburg. This three day streak of combat would later be referred to as the “High Water Mark of the Rebellion.” With the outcome being an overall Union victory, the Battle of Gettysburg would mark the point at which the Union would place the Confederacy on the defensive and end General Robert E. Lee’s most ambitious attempt to seize Union territory. The Battle of Gettysburg was so critical, in fact, that it lead to one of the most vital documents written in United States history, the Gettysburg Address. How exactly did this battle guide President Abraham Lincoln to write the Gettysburg Address is a common question among many.
The drive to end slavery in the United States was a long one, from being debated in the writing of the Declaration of Independence, to exposure of its ills in literature, from rebellions of slaves, to the efforts of people like Harriet Tubman to transport escaping slaves along the Underground Railroad. Abolitionists had urged President Abraham Lincoln to free the slaves in the Confederate states from the very outset of the Civil War. By mid-1862, Lincoln had become increasingly convinced of the moral imperative to end slavery, but he hesitated (History.com). As commander-in-chief of the Union Army, he had military objectives to consider (History.com). On one hand, emancipation might
One afternoon, on Thursday, November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln began his undoubtedly most well-known speech with the now iconic phrase “four score and seven years ago.” On this day, Lincoln effectively honored those who lost their lives and—to an even more significant effect—emphasized the ideas of freedom and equality that the war was fought over as well as encouraging the nation to act as a purposeful, united whole. The turning point of the American civil war, the battle of Gettysburg, took place a few months prior to this speech between July 1st and July 3rd of the same year. It was during the dedication ceremony of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania that Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address. For his entire speech,