Lincoln's second inaugural address

1. A speech given by Abraham Lincoln at his inauguration for a second term as president, a few weeks before the Union victory in the Civil War. It concludes with this appeal for reconciliation: “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 for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan — to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.”

Example Sentences

The VA’s current motto — “To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan” — is taken from President Lincoln’s second inaugural address and has been in use since 1959.

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His perspective on politics is infused with the humility of Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address and Augustine’s commentaries on the imperfections of human nature.

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At the hearing, Mr. Leduc quoted Lincoln’s second Inaugural Address, saying that Judge Moss had a chance to show “malice toward none” and “charity toward all.”

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Leduc urged Moss to heed the words in President Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address and show grace that each side of the partisan divide would claim for itself and deny the other.

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Mr. Blight could not help thinking of Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, delivered soon before the end of the Civil War and steeped in melancholy.

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