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U.S. History
A Policy of Forgiveness:
Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
The Election of 1864
While the Confederacy had the upper hand during the first couple of years of the Civil War,
the tide began to turn in 1863. In July of 1863, the Union won two important victories. The Union’s
victory at the Battle of Gettysburg, the Confederacy’s attempt to move the war north, helped to
boost the morale of the Union. That same month, the Union also took control of Vicksburg,
Mississippi. The Union’s Siege of Vicksburg helped to fulfill a major part of the Anaconda Plan. This
victory gave the Union full control of the Mississippi River. In 1864, Union forces, led by General
Sherman began marching from Tennessee to the Georgia Coast. The soldiers destroyed everything
they came across, burning down Confederate homes& plantations, and tearing up railroad lines.
Lincoln ran for reelection in 1864 (a
year before the Civil War ended). Democrat
and former Union General George McClellan
ran against Lincoln. McClellan promised to
restore peace by bringing an end to the war.
Lincoln selected Andrew Johnson to be his
running mate (vice president). Johnson was a
Democrat from Tennessee (a Confederate state
where many battles took place). Lincoln
selected Johnson as a way of showing the
country that he truly believed in unification.
Before the Union victories in 1863 & 1864,
northerners were weary of supporting Lincoln.
They had anticipated a short war and an easy victory for the Union. The Union victories made had
changed many voters minds. Lincoln won the election with 54% of the popular votes and the
electoral votes of all but three states (the CSA did not participate in this election).
Lincoln’s Hope for the Future…
Weeks of wet weather preceding Lincoln's second inauguration had caused Pennsylvania
Avenue to become a sea of mud and standing water. On March 4th, 1865, thousands of spectators
stood in thick mud at the Capitol grounds to hear the President. As he stood on the East Portico to
take the executive oath, the completed Capitol dome over the President's head was a physical
reminder of the resolve of his Administration throughout the years of civil war. After taking the oath
of office, Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address. Lincoln knew that the war was coming to a
close (it would end nearly a month later) and he used his inaugural address as an opportunity to tell
the citizens of the United States how he felt the country should go about “rebuilding” itself. Below is
a transcript of that speech:
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.
On 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, urgent 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.
Lincoln begins his speech by reviewing the events of the past four years. He talks about how both the
North & South did not want to go to war, but the South’s decision to secede left the country with no
other options. Lincoln then expresses his optimism about the Union’s chances of victory. He spends
the remainder of the speech talking about the role of slavery in the conflict and how the North
should treat the South once the war has ended.
One-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. Neither 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. The 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
bondsman'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."
The end of the speech contains some of the most well known words that Lincoln ever spoke. Here he
specifically addresses his plan for “reconstruction.”
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.
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U.S. History
Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address:
Reflection Questions
Directions: Use the A Policy of Forgiveness: Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address handout to answer
the following questions.
Fact Check…
1. Which side had won many victories during the first couple of years of the war? ____________
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2. Why was the Battle of Gettysburg so important for the Union? _________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
3. Why was the Siege of Vicksburg so important for the Union? ___________________________
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4. True or False. Most of the Confederate States participated in the presidential election of 1864.
Reading Comprehension…
5. With which of the following statements do you think the author would agree?
a. Lincoln would have easily won the election of 1864, regardless of the outcomes of the
Battles of Gettysburg, Vicksburg & Sherman’s march on Georgia because people do
not like to change their leader during times of war.
b. If it hadn’t been for the Union victories at Gettysburg, Vicksburg & Sherman’s march
on Georgia, Democrat George McClellan would have won the election of 1864.
c. The South should have been allowed to participate in the election of 1864; this would
have made it a more fair election.
d. Lincoln hated the South and felt as though they should be punished for their role in
the Civil War.
I selected answer choice _____ because in the text it says: __________________________
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Reader Response…With which of the following statements do you think Lincoln would most
agree?
a)
b)
c)
d)
The South is to blame for causing the Civil War
The North is to blame for causing the Civil War
Both the North and the South are to blame for causing the Civil War
Great Britain is to blame for causing the Civil War
I like answer
choice….
Use primary source evidence from Lincoln’s second inaugural address to support your position
(ATIC).
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Exemplary
Proficient
Progressing
Beginning
Insightful, well
organized, and fluent
Deep understanding
of text is
demonstrated
Specific references to
text are used to
support ideas
Text references are
well interpreted and
clearly connected to
response
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Thoughtful, organized,
and fluent
Clear understanding of
the text is
demonstrated
Relevant references to
text are used to
support ideas
Text references are
explained and
connected to response
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Organized and
somewhat fluent
Basic understanding
of text is displayed
At least one relevant
example from text is
used to support ideas
Text references are
somewhat connected
to response
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Disorganized or
confusing
Limited or no
understanding of text is
displayed
Limited or no examples
from text are used to
support ideas
Text reference seems
irrelevant to response