The Capitol Dome

him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." Ronald C. White, Jr., who has written perhaps the most insightful analysis of Lincoln's second inaugural address, points out the speech's similarities to a Puritan jeremiad, a sermon in which the preacher identifies the cause of God's anger—"the offence of slavery"—and the punishment for that sin—"He gives to both North and South, this terrible war." e only fitting response to God's judgment is selfless love and reconcili- ation. If enmity continued, the war would have been in vain. White points out that in calling for reconciliation, Lincoln did not seek an emotional response, but rather the "tough, practi- cal living actions that must replace retribution with 'charity.'" 16 e antislavery Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner nodded affirmatively during Lincoln's speech, and Frederick Douglass, as we've seen, considered it "a sacred effort." Charles Francis Adams, a young Union officer whose ancestors included two U.S. presidents, was in the crowd and observed, "is inaugu- ral strikes me in its grand simplicity and directness as being for all time the historical keynote of this war." 17 Across the ocean, the British statesman, William E. Gladstone, conveyed his appreciation: "I am taken captive by so striking an utterance as this. . . . e address gives evidence of a moral elevation most rare in a statesman, or indeed in any man." 18 Public response to the speech was divided. e Boston Evening Transcript thought it "a singular State Paper—made so by the times. . . . e President was lifted above the level upon which political rulers usually stand, and felt himself 'in the very presence of Providence.'" e London Spectator agreed: "No statesman ever uttered words stamped at once with the seal of so deep a wisdom and so true a simplicity." 19 Many listeners in the crowd, at least those close enough to hear the words, and many other Americans who later would read the speech printed in the newspapers, were not as impressed. Many understandably wanted to celebrate the impending vic- tory and sought punishment for the rebels. ey expected to rejoice in a "mission accomplished" speech, not to be reminded of their own complicity in slavery or to be preached to about reconciliation and charity. Douglass noticed that the expres- sions of many of those around him were very different from his own; the New York Herald noted "a leaden stillness in the crowd" in its reaction to the speech. 20 Opposition newspapers heaped ridicule on the "slip-shod, so loose-jointed, so puerile" speech. 21 Such accounts criticized him for "abandoning all pre- tense of statesmanship." 22 e Democratic Star of the North (Bloomsburg, PA) resorted to satire, printing its own synopsis of the speech: "e Inaugural with the Bark Off." Fellow Countrymen : I made an inaugural address four years ago; there is no particular occasion for another. e public knows as much as I do about the progress of our arms. We have great hopes but we make no predic- tions. [Seward's department] Four years ago we all tried to avert war. Both parties hated to fight. War came. e slaves are one eight of the population, and a "pecu- liar and powerful" institution. "Somehow" they caused the war. All pray to the same God. He don't appear to be on either side. When He makes up His mind we will have to stand it. Meanwhile, without malice, let us charitably and firmly continue to cut each other's throats; taking care of such unfortunate people as may be widowed and orphaned; in order that we may not injure or harm one another, but maintain just and lasting peace among ourselves and other nations. 23 President Lincoln, however, may have gotten the final word on the lasting impact of his second inaugural speech. Later that month he wrote to urlow Weed, a friend and New York edi- tor, who had praised the speech. Lincoln admitted the speech was not "immediately popular." "Men are not flattered by being shown that there has been a difference of purpose between the Almighty and them," he wrote. "To deny it, however, in L IBR ARY OF CONGRE S S MANUS CRIP T DIVISION THE CAPITOL DOME 15 Fig. 8. Written in Lincoln's hand, the final page of the "reading copy" of the second inaugural address bears his own corrections, including changing the final words from "the world" to "all nations."

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