http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/pihtml/piwi03.html
[LOC photograph of second inauguration]
Lesson Plan #4: The Second Inaugural Address (1865)—Restoring the American Union
I. Introduction
“Mr. Lincoln, that was a sacred effort.” So spoke Frederick Douglass soon after he heard
Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address on March 4, 1865. The abolitionist
orator/editor (and former slave) had met Lincoln only twice before, and for most of the
war was a fierce critic of the president’s policies. But he would describe Lincoln’s fourparagraph speech as sounding “more like a sermon than like a state paper.”
The Second Inaugural Address is a surprisingly brief but profound reflection on the
meaning of the Civil War. In the face of both Northern triumphalism and Southern
defiance, Lincoln interpreted the waning conflict to prepare the way for restoring the
American Union. He believed both sides needed a common memory of the war—its
cause and its effect on slavery—to help the country move beyond its disagreements “with
malice toward none, with charity for all.” Lincoln gave a uniquely providential reading
of the cause, duration, and consequences of the war in hopes that the duly chastened
nation, both North and South, might “achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace.”
This lesson will examine Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address to determine how he
sought to reunite a divided country through a providential interpretation of the Civil War.
II. Guiding Question
How did Lincoln seek to restore the American union as the Civil War drew to a close?
III. Learning Objectives
After completing this lesson, students should be able to:
1. Describe the historical context for Lincoln’s second inauguration as president.
2. Articulate some of the concerns of Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, a
leader of the Radical Republicans, who controlled Congress after the election of
1864.
3. Describe the mood of the South as reflected in Confederate President Jefferson
Davis’s rhetoric in early 1865.
4. Explain how Lincoln sought to unite the country upon his re-election to the
presidency.
IV. Background Information for the Teacher
Unlike his first election to the presidency, where he garnered less than forty percent of
the popular vote, Abraham Lincoln was re-elected in 1864 with 54 percent of the popular
vote and the electoral college votes all but three states—New Jersey, Delaware, and
Kentucky. Drawing an overwhelming majority of the soldier vote, Lincoln won a
convincing re-election over his dismissed general, George B. McClellan, the “Peace”
Democratic candidate. The Republicans did run as the “National Union Party,” even
going so far as to select Democrat Andrew Johnson as his running mate in order to
emphasize national unity and not partisan differences. But the key to Lincoln retaining
the presidency was the significant victories won by Union forces in the fall of 1864,
which convinced Northerners that the war was close to being won. Where preserving the
Union was the issue at his first inauguration, crushing the Confederacy and restoring the
union of all the American states formed the context of Lincoln’s second inauguration.
By the time of his second inauguration on March 4, 1865, the Civil War was almost over.
Supported by Generals Philip E. Sheridan, who laid waste to the Shenandoah Valley (a
key food supply for the Confederate army), and William Tecumseh Sherman, who
disrupted Confederate transportation, communications, and morale throughout Georgia
and the Carolinas, General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant mounted a coordinated attack on
Southern forces and gained control of all the major Southern ports.
On the political front, a peace conference at Hampton Roads, Virginia (February 3,
1865), which took place aboard the president’s steamer River Queen, failed as Lincoln
rejected an appeal for a cease-fire by Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens.
Lincoln remained committed to emancipation, and would accept nothing short of the
disbanding of all rebel forces and a “restoration of the National authority throughout all
the States.”
Some Southerners, like the now famous South Carolina diarist Mary Boykin Chesnut,
acknowledged the increasing dominance of the federal military: after the fall of Atlanta to
Sherman’s army in August 1864, Mary Chesnut wrote, “We are going to be wiped off the
face of the earth.” Nevertheless, even after Lincoln’s re-election demonstrated the
North’s commitment to the war against Southern independence, Confederate leaders
remained defiant in the face of mounting battlefield losses, the blockading of their ports,
and rampant desertion and “stragglers” absent without leave. After hearing of the failed
Hampton Roads Peace Conference, Confederate President Jefferson Davis delivered a
speech at the African Church in Richmond, proclaiming, “The duty that remains is to
stand to our arms,” adding that “his confidence was firm, that God would abase the
arrogance of our enemies, and crown our exertions with triumph.” But defiance did not
preclude desperate measures, as Davis and the Confederate Congress even considered
enlisting slaves to fight for the Confederate cause—with emancipation as a reward. With
General Robert E. Lee’s endorsement, the measure passed in early March 1865, but was
never put into effect.
Concerned that his wartime Emancipation Proclamation would become inoperative when
peace returned to the nation, Lincoln had worked vigorously in 1864 and early 1865 to
get the Thirteenth Amendment passed by the required two-thirds of the House of
Representatives (it had already passed the Senate in April 1864), which finally occurred
on January 31, 1865. He called the amendment “a King’s cure for all the evils. It winds
the whole thing up.” All that remained was for three-fourths of the states to ratify the
amendment. By the time of Lincoln’s death on April 15, 1865, twenty-one of the
required minimum of twenty-seven states had ratified it, while two of the so-called
Border Slave States, Missouri and Maryland, abolished slavery within their own borders.
Facing Radical Republicans in Congress calling for stricter measures for enforcing
federal authority over the rebellious states, and a defeated but defiant South with no love
for the Union after a devastating war, Lincoln had a difficult task ahead of him as he
prepared his second inaugural address. Instead of spelling out his plans for
Reconstruction or “restoration” (his preferred term) of the seceded states, he followed the
model of his Gettysburg Address and not his First Inaugural Address. Upon swearing the
presidential oath of office for a second time, Lincoln’s speech to the nation would be
weighty but brief.
Discussion of the future course of the nation, the typical bread and butter of an inaugural
address, was left for the very end of the four-paragraph, 700-word speech. The shortest
paragraph of the address, Lincoln kept it eloquently vague. Beginning with the most
memorable phrase of the speech, “With malice toward none; with charity for all,” he
studiously avoided any specifics about whether or not the seceded states had actually left
the federal union, how they would be restored to their former place within the Union, or
what the status or rights of the freedmen—or rebels, for that matter—would be under
these returning governments. More important than a detailed agenda for the future,
Lincoln thought, was a careful review of the past: what was the meaning of the conflict
and how could this understanding help heal the wounds of the divided nation?
Lincoln thought the reunification of the American people required a common view of the
wrong of slavery, as well as a common acceptance of the ravages of the Civil War as due
punishment from the Almighty for the national exploitation of black slaves. If “the war
came” according to divine providence, and had proven to be an unexpected means of
ridding the nation (and not just the South) of its original sin of slavery, then a common
acceptance of this interpretation of the Civil War could help North and South “achieve
and cherish a just, and a lasting peace.”
Without this new way of thinking about the place of slavery in America’s history,
replacing both the South’s defense of it as “a positive good” and the North’s assumption
that they bore no responsibility for the peculiar institution, there would be little hope of a
truly United States of America. What was accomplished on the battlefield needed to be
established in the hearts and minds of the former combatants. Therefore Lincoln sought
in his Second Inaugural Address to establish a common, public memory of the war as the
basis for restoring national unity.
V. Preparing to Teach this Lesson
This lesson makes use of written primary source documents and worksheets, available
both online and in the Text Document that accompanies this lesson. Students can read
and analyze source materials online, or do some of the work online and some in class
from printed copies.
Read over the lesson. Bookmark the websites that you will use. If students will be
working from printed copies in class, download the documents from the Text Document
and duplicate as many copies as you will need. If students need practice in analyzing
primary source documents, excellent resource materials are available at the
EDSITEment-reviewed Learning Page of the Library of Congress:
http://memory.loc.gov/learn/lessons/psources/analyze.html. Helpful Document Analysis
Worksheets may be found at the site of the National Archives:
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets/index.html.
VI. Suggested Activities
What would it be like to write an inaugural address, if you were a newly re-elected
president who was presiding over the end of a Civil War that had cost the country around
600,000 deaths during four agonizing years? What would you say to your countrymen,
and to all the regions of the country involved in the conflict, that would show your
understanding of what had transpired, and would give your aims and purposes for the
next four years? In this lesson, students will try their hand at just such a task.
Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address is the focus of this lesson, but students will not read
it until the end of the activity. In order to appreciate better what Lincoln wrote, his
address will be read last, after students have had a chance to see what they can do with
Lincoln’s difficult assignment.
Before writing their own inaugural address, and especially before they read Lincoln’s
Second Inaugural Address, they will first read primary and secondary sources that present
some of the historical context in which the re-elected president prepared for his second
inauguration in March 1865: namely, (1) the imminent Union victory on the battlefield,
(2) a large majority of the northern population (reflected in the Radical Republican
agenda in Congress) who were eager to punish Southerners whom they believed had
started the terrible conflict, and (3) defiant Southerners who were not eager to be brought
back into the Union under the terms and conditions that would be exacted.
Next, after reading a general description of what an inaugural address is and what it
hopes to accomplish, students will grapple with the situation that confronted Lincoln: the
task of what to say to a divided nation, where Northerners and Southerners had sent their
sons into the fields to do mortal battle with each other, but that was now drawing to a
close. They will write their own inaugural address, taking into account what they just
learned about where the country was in early 1865.
Finally, they will examine Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, and then compare and
contrast his speech with their own.
This lesson is built around the following sequence of tasks:
1. Students will read primary and secondary sources that reflect the historical
context in which the re-elected president prepared for his second inauguration.
a. “Grant Takes Command” (1864/1865)
b. Charles Sumner, “Letter to John Bright” (March 13, 1865)
c. Jefferson Davis, “African Church Speech” (February 6, 1865)
2. Students will read an “Inaugural Address” description and then write their own.
3. Students will read Abraham Lincoln’s “Second Inaugural Address” (March 4,
1865), and then compare and contrast his speech with what they wrote.
Historical Context for Lincoln’s Speech
To gain context for the speech that Lincoln wrote, students will read primary and
secondary sources as given in this section. Divide students into groups of three or four,
and have them work together on the questions for each of the readings below.
Have students read “Grant Takes Command,” which gives a brief account of General
Ulysses S. Grant’s promotion to general in chief of the Union military and how his
coordinated strategy spelled the beginning of the end of the Civil War. “Grant Takes
Command” can be found at the EDSITEment-reviewed site “Digital History”:
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=122. The text is
also included in the Text Document on page 1, and can be printed out for student use. In
their groups, have students work together on the answer to the following question, which
is also available on page 1 of the Text Document:
1. What evidence do you find in this article that the Union is winning in late 1864
and early 1865 and that the South is collapsing?
Charles Sumner, “To John Bright” (March 13, 1865): “Can Emancipation be Carried Out
Without Using the Lands of the Slave-masters”?
Next, have students read a March 13, 1865 letter that Charles Sumner, a U.S. Senator
from Massachusetts and leading member of the Radical Republicans, wrote to John
Bright. Bright (1811-1889) was a progressive member of the British Parliament and a
Quaker who advocated universal suffrage and the abolition of slavery. Sumner’s letter to
Bright can be found at the EDSITEment-reviewed site “Teaching American History”:
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=1750. The relevant
excerpt from Sumner’s letter is also included in the Text Document on page 2, and can be
printed out for student use. Students should work together on the answers to the
following questions, which are also available on page 3 of the Text Document:
1. What does Sumner propose should be done with the land of former slave-owners
in the South?
2. What reasons does Sumner give for securing “suffrage” or the vote to the
freedmen? What ultimate benefit does this bestow upon the United States?
3. What other proposals that Sumner offers in his letter would be seen as hostile by
the South?
Jefferson Davis, “African Church Speech” (February 6, 1865): “The Duty that Remains is
to Stand to Our Arms.”
With the failure of the Peace Conference at Hampton Roads, Virginia (February 3, 1865),
Confederate President Jefferson Davis delivered a speech to rally Southern support for
the war. A link to Davis’s “African Church Speech” can be found at the EDSITEmentreviewed site “Teaching American History”:
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=1749. An excerpt from
Davis’s “African Church Speech” is also included in the Text Document on pages 4-5,
and can be printed out for student use. Students should work together on the answers to
the following questions, which are also available on page 6 of the Text Document:
1. Is Jefferson Davis hopeful or pessimistic about the Confederate war effort? Give
evidence for your answer.
2. What does Jefferson Davis believe is required for the Confederate cause to
succeed at this stage of the conflict? What does he call upon the citizens of the
Confederacy to do?
3. What can you infer from the “African Church Speech” about the status or morale
of the Confederate military? Cite an example or two in support of your answer.
4. Is Jefferson Davis open to having the Confederate states rejoin the American
union? Explain.
The Inaugural Address: Students Write Their Own
Now it’s time for the students to put themselves in the president’s shoes and write an
inaugural address for the year 1865, based on what they know about the unfolding events
and the prominent opinions of that time from their readings. Students will address the
nation with words that they think are appropriate for a people who have been confronted
everyday with news of casualties from the battlefields or unrest on the streets, or worse,
who have suffered personal loss themselves.
Before they write, however, instruct students to read a brief history entitled “Inaugural
Address,” which can be found at the EDSITEment-reviewed site “U.S. Senate”:
http://inaugural.senate.gov/history/daysevents/inauguraladdress.htm. They can read this
online, or it can be printed from the Text Document on page 7. This reading contains
general information about the inaugural address, such as a brief history of the address and
what presidents generally hope to accomplish in this speech. Students will find this
helpful as they set out to write their own inaugural address.
Suggest to students that they might wish to mention or allude to the following points in
their address:






what you know to be true about the nation in 1865
your thoughts on the cause of the war
a way to put the nation’s conflict into perspective
how you will deal with a nation whose sections are hostile to each other
where you will lead the country over the next four years
your goals and vision for the nation
Abraham Lincoln, “Second Inaugural Address” (March 4, 1865): “With Malice Toward
None; With Charity for All.”
After writing their address, students will then read Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
and compare and contrast their speech with Lincoln’s. Aside from recognizing the
rhetorical eloquence of an unquestioned master of the English language, students should
also gain a greater appreciation of how unique Lincoln’s agenda was, as he declared it in
his March 4, 1865 address. The religious element (i.e., his providential reading of the
war) and the lack of triumphalism should be more readily apparent. Lincoln addressed
the divided nation with healing, not vindictive, words; we’ll see how well the students
approximate this approach in their addresses.
Lincoln’s “Second Inaugural Address” can be found at the EDSITEment-reviewed site
“National Archives and Records Administration”:
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=38&page=transcript. The
Second Inaugural Address is also included in the Text Document on pages 8-9, and can
be printed out for student use. Students should work together on the answers to the
following questions, which are also available on pages 9-10 of the Text Document:
1. In the second paragraph, what does Lincoln say that Americans (North and South)
believed about the “impending civil-war”? Why does he not identify the South as
responsible for starting the war?
2. What connection does Lincoln make between slavery and the Civil War?
3. What two or three things about the Civil War does Lincoln say the American
people did not expect?
4. What does Lincoln “suppose” God may be accomplishing with the Civil War?
5. How does Lincoln’s interpretation of the war humble both victorious Northerners
and defeated Southerners? Why is this useful given the historical context in
March 1865?
6. In terms of both the war and slavery, how do Lincoln’s references to the Bible
help him to explain what has happened to the country since his first presidential
inauguration?
VII. Assessment
Choose a question or two from each of the categories below, and have students write a
one- or two-paragraph response.
“What Have You Learned” Questions:
1. Give a brief summary of the historical context that Lincoln faced as he prepared
his second inaugural address.
2. Is Jefferson Davis open to the idea of the Confederate States rejoining the
American union? What appears to be his priority in any peace settlement?
3. What do you learn from Lincoln’s address about his attitude towards the South,
the apparent losers in the conflict? What do you learn from Lincoln’s address
about his attitude towards the North, the apparent winners in the conflict?
4. What insight did you gain from President Lincoln’s Address? What kinds of
things did he include that you did not?
“What Do You Think” Questions:
1. Why do you think Lincoln devotes most of his Second Inaugural Address to a
recollection of the how the war came about and how the war transformed the
nation? In what way does his interpretation of the Civil War (paragraph 3) prepare
the nation for his concluding exhortation (paragraph 4)?
2. Should Lincoln have been more specific about his recommendations for
Reconstruction, or does he achieve his purposes better by stressing important
themes instead of policy proposals?
3. Do you think his wishes for the future can be fulfilled if Americans remain
divided about the meaning of the war? Explain.
“Use Your Judgment” Questions:
1. What can you discern about Lincoln’s character on the basis of what he wrote?
2. Evaluate Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address. What were its strengths? Do you
see any weaknesses?
3. Whose address better addressed the nation’s needs and concerns in 1865,
President Lincoln’s or yours? Why?
“For Further Thought” Questions:
1. In recent years, some Americans have called for a national apology for the slavery
practiced for so long in the United States. Does Lincoln’s Second Inaugural
Address qualify as an apology? Explain.
2. Could a president today use the same religious rhetoric that Lincoln did to explain
national policy? (Note: Is it significant that Lincoln presents his providential
interpretation of the war as a supposition and not as a demonstrable fact?)
VIII. Extending the Lesson
The Political Battle Between the President and Congress for Reconstructing the Nation
For additional background on the Second Inaugural Address, especially with regards to
contending options for Reconstruction, students can compare Lincoln’s 1863
Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction with Congress’ 1864 Wade-Davis bill,
which Lincoln pocket-vetoed.
Have students read excerpts from President Abraham Lincoln’s “Proclamation of
Amnesty and Reconstruction” (December 8, 1863), and answer the questions that follow,
which are available in worksheet form on page 13 of the Text Document. A link to the
Proclamation can be found at the EDSITEment-reviewed site “POTUS-Presidents of the
United States” of the Internet Public Library: http://www.historyplace.com/lincoln/proc4.htm. A shorter excerpt from the Proclamation is also included in the Text Document on
pages 11-12, and can be printed out for student use.
1. What must someone who “participated in the existing rebellion” do to receive a
presidential pardon? Be specific in your answer.
2. What persons do not qualify for pardon and amnesty?
3. What minimum percentage of qualified persons need to take the oath in order to
re-establish a state government loyal to the United States?
4. What does Lincoln encourage re-established state government to do with regards
to former slaves?
Then have students read excerpts from the Wade-Davis bill (July 2, 1864), and answer
the questions that follow, which are available in worksheet form on page 16 of the Text
Document. A link to the Wade-Davis bill can be found at the EDSITEment-reviewed site
“Our Documents” of the National Archives:
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/print_friendly.php?page=transcript&doc=37&title=Transc
ript+of+Wade-Davis+Bill+%281864%29. A shorter excerpt from the Wade-Davis bill is
also included in the Text Document on pages 14-15, and can be printed out for student
use.
1. Who does Congress say will govern a state whose citizens wish to be restored to
the federal union? Who appoints this person?
2. What minimum percentage of white male voters need to take the oath before
those citizens could begin the process of reestablishing a new state government?
3. What must citizens do to restore their state to the federal union?
4. Who are considered to be citizens of a restored state, and what categories of
persons are left out?
5. What three requirements does Congress impose upon the re-established state
constitutions?
IX. EDSITEment-reviewed Web Resources Used in this Lesson
Digital History: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/
“Grant Takes Command”:
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=122
Internet Public Library: http://www.ipl.org/
POTUS-Presidents of the United States (Abraham Lincoln):
http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/alincoln.html
Abraham Lincoln, Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction:
http://www.historyplace.com/lincoln/proc-4.htm
National Archives and Records Administration: http://www.archives.gov/
America’s Historical Documents: http://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/
Our Documents: http://www.ourdocuments.gov/
100 Milestone Documents:
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/content.php?page=milestone
Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address:
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=38
&page=transcript
Teaching American History: http://teachingamericanhistory.org/
Jefferson Davis, African Church Speech”:
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=1749
Charles Sumner, “Letter to John Bright”:
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=1750
United States Senate: http://www.senate.gov/
Inaugural Address:
http://inaugural.senate.gov/history/daysevents/inauguraladdress.htm
X. Additional Information
Grade Levels
Grades 9-12
Subject Areas
 U.S. History - African-American
 U.S. History - Civics and U.S. Government
 U.S. History - Civil Rights
Time Required
 Lesson One—“Fragment on the Constitution and Union (1861)—The Purpose of
the American Union.” One or two forty-five minute class periods.
 Lesson Two—“The First Inaugural Address (1861)—Defending the American
Union.” Three forty-five minute class periods.


Skills




Lesson Three—“The Gettysburg Address (1863)—Defining the American
Union.” Three forty-five minute class periods.
Lesson Four—“The Second Inaugural Address (1865)—Restoring the American
Union.” Three forty-five minute class periods.
interpreting primary source documents
putting oneself in a historical context
writing an inaugural address
thinking critically
Standards Alignment
 NCSS – 2: Time, Continuity, and Change
 NCSS – 3: People, Places, and Environments
 NCSS – 6: Power, Authority, and Governance
 NCSS – 10: Civic Ideals and Practices
Author/Lesson Plan Writer
 Lesson Writer: Lucas Morel, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia
 Managing Editor: Constance Murray, Grace Christian High School, Staunton,
Virginia
Teacher/Student Resources
Text Documents
Related EDSITEment Lesson Plans






Declare the Causes: The Declaration of Independence:
http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=282
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854: Popular Sovereignty and the Political
Polarization over Slavery:
http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=661
Abraham Lincoln, the 1860 Election, and the Future of the American Union and
Slavery: http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=662
We Must Not Be Enemies: Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address:
http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=246
Attitudes Toward Emancipation:
http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=290
Lincoln Goes to War:
http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=263