Lincoln's Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural Book

Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

Several outstanding books have examined in detail a single address by Abraham Lincoln. These books have the overall goal of explaining Lincoln's presidency, the meaning and significance of the Civil War, and the continued impact of the issues raised in this conflict upon today's United States. These books include Gary Wills's study of the Gettysburg Address, the books by John Corry and Harold Holzer on Lincoln's Cooper Union speech, Allen Guelzo's study of the Emancipation Proclmation, and, the book I will discuss here, "Lincoln's Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural" (2002) by Ronald C. White, Jr.

Ronald White is a professor of American Religious History at the San Francisco Theological Seminary. Given his background as a scholar of religion, it is unsurprising that Professor White focuses on President Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address and on the religious vision he finds Lincoln set forth in that great speech.

The book begins with a chapter setting the stage on the cold and rainy March 4, 1865, in Washington D.C. when Lincoln delivered his brief 703-word address. Union arms were close to victory, and the large audience undoubtedly expected a paean to the might of the Union Army together with tones of triumph.

President Lincoln delivered a speech entirely different. In short compass, he delivered a meditation on the origin of the War, its cost in human life, its origin in the institution of slavery, a call to forbearance and charity, and, most importantly for Professor White, a religious understanding of the meaning of the War.

Professor White explores the speech on a paragraph-by-paragraph, line-by-line basis. He discusses closely the words of Lincoln's text, and he places the text in context of events in the War and of mid-19th Century America. He offers illuminating insights on the Second Inaugural by discussing a short letter Lincoln wrote on April 4, 1864, to the Governor of Kentucky in which Lincoln explained his reasons for issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. He also relies heavily on a short passage of jottings Lincoln prepared for himself in September, 1862, captioned "Meditation on the Divine Will."

The Second Inaugural as Professor White expounds it sets forth a complex religious message. The War, as Professor White reads Lincoln, was the will of a living and ethical God and was a recompense for the sin of slavery. This sin was nation-wide in scope and could not be imputed only to the rebelling Confederates. During the course of the conflict, Lincoln had moved from the agnosticism and determinism of his youth to a concept of a personal God. His God was nondenominational and nontribal rather that the God of any particular creed (Lincoln never joined a church) or of factions, including the North or the South. The scourge of slavery had brought on the War, but the end of the War opened the opportunity for forgiveness, reconciliation, and justice, "with malice toward none with charity for all; with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right."

It is an impressive and theologically-complex vision. Professor White writes with a purpose of encouraging meditation among his readers on the role of religion (not denominationalism) in our public life and on the continuing struggle in our country to eliminate the vestiges of slavery and racism. He writes (p. 202):

"The Lincoln that is available to us comes with no simple answers. The chasm of race, which undergirded the legal structure of slavery, continues even though the Civil Rights movement, a hundred years after the Civil War, spearheaded political and legal action intended to right ancient wrongs. Martin Luther King, Jr. chose to speak with the imposing statue of Lincoln as the background when he offered his dream for America."

Those readers interested in exploring further the complicated question of Lincoln's philosophical and religious beliefs may wish to read Allen Guelzo's biography "Redeemer President" together with his more recent study of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Robin Friedman