Abraham Lincoln: Second Inaugural Address

Audience

The address was intended for a national and international audience. Thousands stood in inclement weather in Washington, D.C., to hear Lincoln's speech, which lasted approximately six minutes. Listeners included Frederick Douglass, slaves who had gained their freedom through the Emancipation Proclamation, and John Wilkes Booth. Millions more people read the address in newspapers throughout the Union and Confederacy and in countries throughout the world.

Lincoln's reference to the satisfactory progress of the military, an observer noted, was followed by a pause. A reporter for the New York Herald thought Lincoln anticipated applause, but the sentence was met with silence. The crowd offered applause when Lincoln noted that the Union would accept war before accepting secession and when he identified slavery as the cause of the war. Lincoln's reference to Genesis regarding slave owners' gaining their bread from the sweat of others was received as satire and prompted some laughter. For the remaining speech, the crowd was silent, with the exception of periodic praise to God offered by some African Americans in attendance. Frederick Douglass believed the speech was more a sermon than a state document and approved of it, but he observed that others in attendance were not as moved.

Throughout the North, response to the speech was tepid. The next morning, Western Union completed its connection from New York City to San Francisco, and Lincoln's speech was telegraphed to the coast. Newspapers that typically supported Lincoln, such as the New York Times, were disappointed that Lincoln had not celebrated Union achievements or affirmed that Confederate submission was the only term for peace. Others complained that Lincoln had defined slavery as the cause of the war but had failed to mention the Thirteenth Amendment, which would abolish slavery. Democratic newspaper editors found the effort entirely lacking and overly general as well. A comparatively few editorials in the northern press recognized the historic significance of the document. In the South, there were few newspapers altogether—only twenty-two continued to be published. Some of these dismissed the effort, while others were uncertain how to reconcile the theology of the address with their own belief in a Confederate nationalism that was explicitly Christian. In Europe the address was praised for its simplicity and modesty and for Lincoln's desire that the peace be lasting both among Americans and with other nations.

Lincoln, of course, recognized that his effort was met with much criticism. On March 15, nine days after his address, he wrote to Thurlow Reed, a New York Republican politician, thanking Reed for a complimentary letter, and acknowledged that his speech was not roundly praised. This, Lincoln believed, derived from its emphasis on religion—specifically his assertion that God's purpose may differ from men's, but he believed that people needed to be reminded that God governed the world. He believed that as president he could make such a statement and predicted the address would endure as well as any speech he had given.