Question

Which sentence in this excerpt from Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address conveys that he wanted the US Civil War to end as soon as
possible?
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."

Answer 1

A parallel structure is a term used in rhetoric. It refers to a rhetorical device that includes the repetition of adjacent sentences (sections of a text). The repeated sentences place to focus on the main idea that the author wants to express.

Lincoln uses this device in his Second Inaugural Address, where he explores and compares the expectations of both parties. The purpose is to point out that their desires are of equal importance.

What is the central idea of Lincoln?

the idea that Lincoln wishes to emphasize by using parallel structure is that the 'ground or basis for both the rival/opposing ideas are common.' He employs the parallel structure by stating that 'neither of the opposing parties was expecting the war or the duration for which it has survived and...cease' which indicates the 'terrible conditions that have been caused due to the civil war which is the product of conflicts.' Through this, he aims to signal the 'common causes of the war' which none of the parties have expected and questions God's will in this.

Thus, this could be the answer.

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