“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 t
o finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds . . . to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.” —March 4, 1865 This selection expresses Lincoln’s hope for restoration of:
racial equality religious freedom national unity civil liberties
This speech was given just one month before the official end of the American Civil War. This war caused significant fighting between the Union and the Confederacy. This war caused the deaths of thousands of American citizens on both sides. As this war was winding down, Lincoln knew that these Confederate States would eventual become part of the US again. To ease this transition, he discusses how the US must "bind up the nation's wounds." When using this phrase, Lincoln is referring to how the Confederate and Union states must work together in order to unite the US once again.
