Question

How did Lincoln's second inaugural address speech promote unity between the north and the south

Answer 1

Lincoln began his address in a subdued tone. In the highly emotional environment of wartime Washington, it is as if he wanted to lower anticipations. At the beginning of his speech, he sounded more like an onlooker than the main actor. Lincoln directed the focus of his words away from himself by using the passive voice.

In the second paragraph Lincoln began the shift in substance and tenor that would give this address its remarkable meaning. He employed several rhetorical strategies that guided and aided the listener. First, Lincoln's overarching approach was to emphasize common actions and emotions. In this paragraph he used "all" and "both" to include North and south
Second, Lincoln used the word "war" or its pronoun nine times. The centrality of war is magnified because the word appears in every sentence. Previously war had been used as the direct object, both historically and grammatically, of the principal actors. In his speech, however, war became the subject rather than the object. The second paragraph concludes, "And the war came." In this brief, understated sentence, Lincoln acknowledged that the war came in spite of the best intentions of the political leaders of the land.