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Block Period: _________
Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
Background
Lincoln won reelection in 1864 by a wide margin. The nation, though exhausted from nearly four years
of war, sensed that the end was near; [Union General William] Sherman had captured Savannah,
Atlanta, and Columbia, and Fort Sumter had been retaken by Federal forces. [Union General
Ulysses S.] Grant would soon take Petersburg and Richmond [capitol of the Confederacy].
Inauguration Day, March 4, 1865, was windy and cold in Washington. The dome of the United States
Capitol had finally been completed. Lincoln stood on the steps of the Capitol and read his second
inaugural address.
Afterward, he rode back to the White House, escorted only by his ten-year-old son Tad. The worries
of the war had taken a toll on the fifty-six-year-old president. He later said, “I am a tired man.
Sometimes I think I am the tiredest man on earth.”
One of the invited guests at the inauguration was the young actor John Wilkes Booth. Later, Booth
would remark that his vantage point overlooking the ceremony had offered him an excellent
chance “to kill the President, if I had wished.” Several weeks later, Booth would make
good on his threat, assassinating the president at Ford’s Theatre.
Source: http://www.csos.jhu.edu/archivedhtm/Talent/Lessons/Lesson%2024%20Second%20Inaugural.pdf
Excerpt
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
to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds;
to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his
widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and
cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves,
and with all nations.
Source: http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=38
Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address Excerpt – Questions
1. What is the gist of the excerpt?
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2a. What does Lincoln mean when he says, “With malice toward none; with charity for all”?
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2b. Why do you think he said this? ________________________________________________________
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3. What does the phrase “let us strive on to finish the work we are in” mean?
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4. What is Lincoln saying he wants in the last phrase of the sentence?
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