Lincoln's Second Inaugural and Gettysburg Address

Lincoln gave his Second Inaugural Address in 1865 in the midst of the Civil War. He assured the nation that they were nearing the end of the war that tore apart families and caused utter destruction in the country (Lincoln "Second"). Lincoln says that the Civil War became a way of life for the people in the country, but because the war was coming to an end, that way of life could finally change for the better. The end of the war would run its own course, and that things would be justified if that was the way it was meant to be. Due to the troubling state of the nation, Lincoln uses God and religion as a method of raising spirits, because the turmoil of the war would not end overnight. The country was still staring Reconstruction in the face, and a plan for the nation to be put back together still had to be found (Lincoln "Second").

Lincoln had the courage to lead the nation during extremely difficult times, and he tried to uplift their spirits by telling them that things could eventually be fixed, if people worked together and made a plan for the future (Lincoln "Second"). I think that while Abraham Lincoln's speech was obviously historically accurate, just like Frederick Douglass's speech was, but there were still not a lot of real connections to Realism, Regionalism, or Naturalism in his Second Inaugural Address. First of all, the many mentions of God in the address go against Naturalism, which is basically the rejection of all religion (Campbell "Naturalism"). There was a little more of a connection to Realism because Lincoln talks about the pain and sadness of the war (Campbell "Realism"). Lincoln does have connections to Regionalism because he is talking about the country, but there are no other real ties to any of the genres studied in this unit.

In the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln is very clear in what his message is. He speaks passionately about the men that died out on the battlefield trying to bring the nation back together, and does not want their deaths to be in vain (Lincoln "Gettysburg"). Lincoln always wants to insure that generations in the future will realize the great sacrifice that was made for the safety and unity of the country (Lincoln "Gettysburg"). The dedication of the battlefield was a way for Lincoln to honor the men that died in order to help him reunite the country.

Unlike Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, the Gettysburg address did have many ties to the genre of Realism and its' subcategories of Regionalism and Naturalism. To support Realism, Lincoln talks about the deaths on the battlefield and the sadness associated with the deaths of the soldiers at Gettysburg (Campbell "Realism"). There was also Regionalism present in the Gettysburg Address because Lincoln talks about what happened at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and details small things that would not usually be seen as important (Campbell "Regionalism"). Lincoln also communicated a sense of Naturalism with the speech by talking about the purpose of the battle and how it all connected to the big picture, focusing a little more of the philosophical side of things (Campbell "Naturalism"). Overall, I think that Lincoln's skill as a great speaker gave him prestige but the way his speeches connected with the literacy period also added more authenticity to what he was saying and made his words easier to relate to.

Campbell, Donna M. "Naturalism in American Literature. " Literary Movements. Dept. of English, Washington State University. Web. Feb 9 2011.
http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/natural.htm

Campbell, Donna M. "Realism in American Literature, 1860-1890." Literary Movements. Dept. of English, Washington State University. Web 9 Feb 2011.
http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/realism.htm

Campbell, Donna M. "Regionalism and Local Color Fiction, 1865-1895." Literary Movements. Dept. of English, Washington State University. Web. Feb 9 2011.
http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/lcolor.html

Lincoln, Abraham. "The Gettysburg Address." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffery D. Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 402. Print.

Lincoln, Abraham. "The Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffery D. Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 339. Print.