Rhetorical Strategies in Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

In Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, he uses many different kinds of rhetorical strategies to unite a broken nation. During the time of the speech, it is four years into the Civil War and it is about to end. In this speech, Lincoln uses allusion, parallel structure, and diction to unify the North and the South.

A rhetorical strategy that is seen throughout Lincoln’s speech is allusion. He uses God and the Bible to show that the people both from the North and also the South have the same values.

Lincoln says, “Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged.