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Lincoln's Greatest Speech : The Second Inaugural

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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.

This is a short book about a short speech; but both are saturated by meaning and insight. Ronald White's analysis of Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address (which Lincoln gave weeks before the end of the Civil War), portrays Lincoln as a thinker and artist, wrapped in a politician. White deconstructs each word and phrase in the speech/sermon, firmly setting them within the historical context that includes Lincoln's speaking style, Frederick Douglass, Bible-smuggling, Aristotle's rhetoric, the reading public, theological debates within Christendom, the little table in front of Lincoln while he spoke, long-forgotten sermons delivered in the Washington church where Lincoln and his family worshiped, the overtaxed printing presses which rushed out copies of Uncle Tom's Cabin, skeptical foreign newspapers, and so many other aspects of this lost and sad world. American deaths in the Civil War almost equaled American deaths in all subsequent wars, and yet, in this speech, Lincoln avoided blame for the war and gloating over the North's impending victory, and instead invoked a merciful God that punished the whole of the country for "America's (not the South's) slavery." White captures a Lincoln who was a man of his times but was somehow able to rise above them. He has written a masterful book here, blessedly short. We need more short books like this. History, like speeches, can be a lot more palatable in small bites than in the large tomes that crowd contemporary bookshelves.

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.

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 firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right."

It is an impressive and theologically-complex vision. Professor White writes with a purpose of encouraging meditation among his readers on the role of religion (not denominationalism) in our public life and on the continuing sruggle in our country to eliminate the vestiges of slavery and racism. He writes (p. 202):

"The Lincoln that is available to us comes with no simple answers. The chasm of race, which undergirded the legal structure of slavery, continues even though the Civil Rights movement, a hundred years after the Civil War, spearheaded political and legal action intended to right ancient wrongs. Martin Luther King, Jr. chose to speak with the imposing statue of Lincoln as the background when he offered his dream for America."

Those readers interested in exploring further the complicated question of Lincoln's philosophical and religous beliefs may wish to read Allen Guelzo's biography "Redeemer President" together with his more recent study of the Emancipation Proclamation.

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!

I never thought a book about a speech would be so very interesting. White does a great job dissecting this short speech and Lincoln's thinking behind it. At the time, the speech was not thought of well, but after his assassination, the words became the last testament of this great president. With malice toward none and charity to all, these words came to embody Abraham Lincoln.
I was especially interested in the spiritual aspects in both the speech and Lincoln. White makes Lincoln come across as a spiritual person, who believed in fate. The book examines his experience in three Protesant denominations. As we look at Lincoln's spiritual growth, we find this reflected in his speeches, especially his Second Inaugural. The last speech contained many references to God.
This is a great book about Lincoln. For those who want to understand Lincoln more, White's book examines a crucial episode in the final stages of this president's life.

I picked up Ronald White's impressive book to learn not only about Lincoln's March 4, 1865, Second Inaugural Address, but also about persuasive speech. And learn I did. Thus, I think others who speak or write about things important will be instructed by Lincoln and White's analysis of his effective rhetoric. For them, that alone will be worth the price of the book.

But there is much more in these pages. I'm neither a Lincoln scholar nor an historian, and I'm not sure what I was expecting, but when I read histories I first check for the wide range of material the authors draw upon. I then look for the care they take not to read into their texts and sources what they want readers to hear, but to read out of them what they actually say and to tell us what they have found between the lines. I appreciated White's integrity and discipline in this regard.

I also found myself fascinated by both the president's penetrating insights into human nature and White's deft ability to spell them out. I was impressed, too, with the author's lucid descriptions of the historical setting, emotional context and profound theological influences that shaped Lincoln and his address. They helped me to identify with the president as he struggled to heal and unify the nation and to see why he approached his daunting task the way he did. Moreover, both White's competence as an historian and his training in theology helped me to understand better not only this critical American moment, but also to grasp what Lincoln's message says to us today.

When finished reading, I went to our back bedroom to be alone. I read the speech to myself several times. Then I stood at the window and looked down on the plants in our garden, envisioning them as Lincoln's inaugural audience. Then, imagining I were the president at his podium, giving his greatest speech to the war-weary people before him, I read his words aloud, trying to capture his cadence, milking his use of alliteration, and pausing to stress what I now believed he wanted to emphasize. I don't cry at the drop of a hat, but as I read the last paragraph -- "With malice toward none; with charity for all ... a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations." -- my brain brought me back to our present world. Tears filled my eyes, and I could hardly finish.

One of the finest books on Lincoln I have ever read. The scholarship, research, tone, perspective, reflect a thoughtful authors deep understanding of a great man. Dr. White goes way beyond the simplistic or the cynical and grasps the essence of Lincoln, his time in history and the importance of his words for our nation in all times. A must read.

The words of the second inaugural address are very moving and have great relevance for today. Ronald White examines the cultural, historical, and Biblical context for this speech. He explains how Lincoln underwent a dramatic change in what he perceived to be the causes of the Civil War. Going far beyond the usual states rights versus preservation of the Union discussion, White traces Lincoln's change of thought in clear and well-researched terms. The journey from preservation of the Union to judgment/grace theology is a fascinating one that is not often discussed in history classes today. In addition to the great research primary presented in the book, White's writing style is engaging enough to catch the interest of those who normally wouldn't pick up a history book.