Julie Borrego
English 48A
Journal for Lincoln

"With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as god gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation;s wounds; to care fro him who shall have borne the battle, and for the widow, and the orphan-to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among our selves, and with all nations." (Lincoln, 1865, Second Inaugural Address)

"Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it." The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume III, "Letter To Henry L. Pierce and Others" (April 6, 1859), p. 376.

Summary:

Lincoln knew that the nation had just experience a bloody civil war. In this quote from his Second Inaugural Address, he was stating that the people now should not take sides but to come together as a nation and help each other because both sides have lost so much.

My Ideas:

I feel that Lincoln was faced with a great challenge. He was first the President and then abolishionist. Lincoln had to keep in mind as always who he was speaking to. If he was speaking to pro-slavery people he knew just what to say to gain their support without offending them with his true ideas and beliefs on slavery.

I also admire Lincoln, because he did not have any formal schooling. He received all his knowledge from reading and a pure determination. He became a lawyer not by going to a law school but by studying law books on his own and then passing the Bar.