The Civil War Series: Lincoln's 2nd Inaugural Address

The Civil War:
“With Malice Toward None”
Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural Address
Thursdays,
Feb 20th • 10:30-11:30 am at Sanford
Feb 27th • 10:15-11:30 am at Trailside

On March 4, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated for his 2nd term as President of the United States. He delivered one of the shortest inaugural addresses in history – only 701 words lasting about 7 minutes. This speech is often considered his greatest – above even the Gettysburg Address. Frederick Douglass called it “a sacred effort”.

The end of the war was in sight and yet the speech contained neither boasting nor celebrating. Instead, it presented Lincoln’s most profound thoughts on the causes and meaning of the war. He identified slavery as the cause and spoke of the war’s cost as a divine punishment for slavery, a sin for which all Americans, North and South, were to blame – a moral debt that had to be paid. His powerful conclusion called for compassion and reconciliation.

In this program we will look at the words and structure of the speech itself, Lincoln’s conclusions on the causes and meaning of the war, and his plans for reuniting the country. We will also compare Lincoln’s vision of Reconstruction with the more vengeful ideas of the Radical Republicans in Congress.

Trailside Civil War registrants: Please enter through the main entrance or by the library and proceed directly to room 160. There will be an extra lunch sign-in sheet there so that you will not need to enter Trailside until after the program. This helps our Line Dancing group that meets in Trailside at the same time to remain uninterrupted. Thank you!  

Reserve your spot by calling 989-633-3700 or register online below.

Click the Register button below. This button will take you to the Self-Service Portal landing page where you’ll have the opportunity to Create an Account. If you have previously attended a Learn the Portal Session and already have an account set up, you can use the URL link in your Welcome email to access the Self-Service Portal directly. Thank you for your patience as we navigate our new online registration system.