Lincoln's main concern in his Second Inaugural Address was peace.
Lincoln sees the War as the divine retribution for the United State's sin of slavery. He states that both sides wanted to avoid war but one, the South, for its economical reasons, the ownership of slaves, wanted to tear the nation asunder, and the other went to war because they could not let the nation perish, the North. Lincoln wants that people forget their grudges and to together heal the wounded nation. To forget retribution and "with malice toward none, with charity for all" rebuild the torn nation.
