Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

by Abraham Lincoln

"Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address" by Abraham Lincoln is a speech delivered on March 4, 1865, as the Civil War neared its end. Rather than celebrating impending victory, Lincoln spoke with somber reflection on the war's meaning and divine purpose. He identified slavery as the war's cause and suggested the conflict might be God's punishment for the nation's sins. The address contemplates unknowable divine will and calls for reconciliation, urging Americans to "bind up the nation's wounds" without harsh treatment of the defeated South.