Lincoln's Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural

Several recent and outstanding books have each examined in detail a single address by Abraham Lincoln. These books have the overall goal of explaining Lincoln's Presidency, the meaning and significance of the Civil War, and the continued impact of the issues raised in this conflict upon today's United States. These books include Gary Wills's study of the Gettysburg Address, the books by John Corry and Harold Holzer on Lincoln's Cooper Union speech, Allen Guelzo's study of the Emancipation Proclmation, and, the book I will discuss here, "Lincoln's Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural" (2002) by Ronald C. White, Jr. Ronald White is a professor of American Religous History at the San Francisco Theological Seminary. Given his background as a scholar of religion, it is unsurprising that Professor White focuses on President Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address and on the religious vision he finds Lincoln set forth in that great speech. The book begins with a chapter setting the stage on the cold and rainy March 4, 1865, in Washington D.C. when Lincoln delivered his brief 703-word address. Union arms were close to victory, and the large audience undoubtedly expected a paean to the might of the Union Army together with tones of triumph. President Lincoln delivered a speech entirely different. In short compass, he delivered a meditiation on the origin of the War, its cost in human life, its origin in the institution of slavery, a call to forbearance and charity, and, most importantly for Professor White, a religious understanding of the meaning of the War. Professor White explores the speech on a paragraph-by-paragraph, line-by-line basis. He discusses closely the words of Lincoln's text, and he places the text in context of events in the War and of mid-19th Century America. He offers illuminating insights on the Second Inaugural by discussing a short letter Lincoln wrote on April 4, 1864, to the Governor of Kentucky in which Lincoln explained his reasons for issuing the Emancipation Proclmation. He also relies heavily on a short passage of jottings Lincoln prepared for himself in September, 1862, captioned "Meditation on the Divine Will." The Second Inaugural as Professor White expounds it sets forth a complex religous message. The War, as Professor White reads Lincoln, was the will of a living and ethical God and was a recompense for the sin of slavery. This sin was nation-wide in scope and could not be imputed only to the rebelling Confederates. During the course of the conflict, Lincoln had moved from the agnosticism and determinism of his youth to a concept of a personal God. His God was nondenominational and nontribal rather that the God of any particular creed (Lincoln never joined a church) or of factions, including the North or the South. The scourge of slavery had brought on the War, but the end of the War opened the opportunity for forgiveness, reconciliation, and justice, "with malice toward none,with charity for all; with firmne

Forty-one days after delivering his Second Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln was dead.As people looked back to the March day he took the Presidential oath of office for the second time, they accepted the words of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address as his last will and testament for the Union he fought so hard to preserve. There is always a dramatic moment in the life of a person, party, organization or nation that cries for the uplift and release of a speech. Someone steps forward to articulate the pride, hope or grief of it all. The speaker becomes the center of attention and the world stops to listen. And on that dreary March day, Lincoln addressed a nation shaken by four years of horror and sacrifice on both sides.This book's focus is on Lincoln's words, but a larger portrait of the deep, brooding sprit that inspired the words emerges. The speech paints a portrait of Lincoln agonizing with his struggle for justice and reconciliation for the South. His seven minute treatise spoke to a nation and to a world that was overwhelmed by death and the issues that lead to the killing by offering hope and judgment.To a time that lacked statesmanship and leadership, his words transcend the time in which they were delivered. He spoke with a simple conviction that carried healing to his listeners and readers, then and today.Ronald White transforms this speech from one man's struggle with doubt into a promise of hope and redemption for the ages.

For those of us who have always sensed that the 2nd inaugural speech rivals and in some ways even surpasses the more acclaimed Gettysburg Address, Ronald White's book is a masterly vindication. In it White carefully traces the speech's genesis and follows its implications, both political and moral. The clear message is that the themes of conciliation, justice, equality, and compassion apply in all social contexts, not just in this one historical moment in early 1865. The distance between Lincoln as a statesman and today's politicians is even greater in style and substance than in years. What politician today would dare to call for equality and conciliation when it's so much easier (and profitable) to sabre-rattle and flag-wave?Of special interest and value is White's reflections on what Lincoln might mean in his almost apocalyptic references in the speech to divine will and bloodshed, as well as Lincoln's almost agonized acknowledgment that religious convictions can be used to defend opposite sides of an issue. (As Lincoln says in his speech, "Both [the North and the South] read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other..."). The conclusion? Be extremely wary about claiming divine favor in conflicts.All in all, an excellent, insightful, well-written book. Anyone interested in White's book might also appreciate William Miller's recently published *Lincoln's Ethics.*

It took only 703 words for Lincoln to say the words that started to heal the nation.White looks at the context in which he wrote the speech,explains how Lincoln came to an undertstanding of the reasons for and consequences of the war(God's scourge to remove the sin of the stain of slavery for which "all" americans were accountable),and deconsturcts the speech to show how the techniques Lincoln used to make his points. Read it and you'll get in touch with our history as well as see how a great work of literature comes into being.

Every once in a while a great book on a narrow topic of Linconia comes along and this is one of them. This book is a smooth read and quite a page turner. Ronald White covers the events of the inaugural day with wonderful color but also provides an analysis of the speech that while providing depth does not bogg down in details in the way Willis' book on the Gettysburg address does. Don't miss this one!