Lincoln Gettysburg Address or Second Inaugural?

[TerryB]

Which of these two speeches had the most lasting impact on America and/or should be the more preferred speech for high school kids to study? MLK quoted the GA in 1963. Most HS students know of it and many had to memorize it. Should this be the case, or is the 2nd Inaugural something that actually has more substance? I'm not questioning the power of the prose, but asking is it better to make a speech with abstract ideas and rhetoric that can still have an impact 100 years later, or one that has actual proposals that can be carried out?

[edit] Remember, too, that Booth was allegedly so incensed by hearing the 2nd Inaugural that he decided to kill Lincoln. There's a really huge "what if?" in that one.

 

[brass napoleon]

Which of these two speeches had the most lasting impact on America and/or should be the more preferred speech for high school kids to study? MLK quoted the GA in 1963. Most HS students know of it and many had to memorize it. Should this be the case, or is the 2nd Inaugural something that actually has more substance? I'm not questioning the power of the prose, but asking is it better to make a speech with abstract ideas and rhetoric than can still have an impact 100 years later, or one that has actual proposals that can be carried out?

[edit] Remember, too, that Booth was allegedly so incensed by hearing the 2nd Inaugural that he decided to kill Lincoln. There's a really huge "what if?" in that one.

An excellent question, and you've pretty much hit the nail on the head. The Gettysburg Address was hands down much more poetic than all but the last 3 sentences of the Second Inaugural address. But the inaugural address had much more substance to it. I'm basically going with it - the last 3 sentences especially.

 

[KeyserSoze]

Second inaugural. By far Lincoln's best speech.

 

[KeyserSoze]

An excellent question, and you've pretty much hit the nail on the head. The Gettysburg Address was hands down much more poetic than all but the last 3 sentences of the Second Inaugural address. But the inaugural address had much more substance to it. I'm basically going with it - the last 3 sentences especially.

And the second paragraph, when Lincoln sums up the cause of the war so eloquently: "Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came."

 

[nitrofd]

The second may have been his best speech as it set his plans or thoughts for the future but the Gettysburg address is probably the most famous American speech if not worldwide oratory ever given.

 

[Oxkern]

It's a hard one. The Gettysburg Address is one of the finest speeches in the English language. Like the music of JS Bach, it is so well-crafted that it feels perfect every time you hear it.

The Second Inaugural, whilst slightly longer, to me shows Lincoln's views on the war and on the future. I find it very hard to read without being moved to tears and, also, without feeling a sense of hope that it all was not in vain. I think both should stand as the pinnacle of his oratory, and as two of the greatest political speeches in modern history.

 

[Elennsar]

The Gettysburg Address was meant to be a different sort of speech than the Second Inaugural, characterizing it as worse/less important because it was for honoring the dead and invigorating the living than for stating plans to do specific concrete things raises the question of if without the former the latter would be possible.

 

[ole]

The Gettysburg Address was meant to be a different sort of speech than the Second Inaugural, characterizing it as worse/less important because it was for honoring the dead and invigorating the living than for stating plans to do specific concrete things raises the question of if without the former the latter would be possible.

Yes. The Address was the prettiest ever. The Second Inaugural had more meat on its bones.

 

[KeyserSoze]

While I think that Lincoln' Second Inaugural if his best speech, it is not my favorite. That one is his Springfield farewell:

My friends, no one, not in my situation, can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a century, and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing when, or whether ever, I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of the Divine Being who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell.

 

[TerryB]

I weigh them equally, feeling that they served different purposes. The GA was necessary at a time when the horrific casualties of the battle cried out for the president to address the nation, as if to answer the question, "What does it all mean?" The 2nd Inaugural sets out a road map for what the peace will look like, given at a time when there was no doubt of the outcome of the war. On the other hand, the GA was delivered at a time when the outcome was still very much in doubt. I really think students who are not at least exposed to the 2nd Inaugural are being short changed.

 

[Nathanb1]

Gosh, a hard question on my first Saturday morning? Eeek!

My personal favorite is the Gettysburg Address simply because of its elegance and the way Lincoln conveyed the necessity for honoring the Americans who had died on that ground. Without it, how would we perceive the war? It leant a gravity and necessity for finishing the job, and hope that the nation could survive such a traumatic split.

The 2nd Inaugural is, as several have noted, important because it sets the goals for the future as Lincoln saw them. Had he survived, I'm not sure we would hold it in such esteem--but because he did not, that "road map" as Terry nicely termed it, was vital to guide the nation (we wobbled around a bit, but finally got there--mostly) through the rest of the war and reconstruction. It does contain some wonderful writing--and both my English students and history students have the opportunity to study it. In fact, both are required by Texas education law.

 

[nitrofd]

Gosh, a hard question on my first Saturday morning? Eeek!

My personal favorite is the Gettysburg Address simply because of its elegance and the way Lincoln conveyed the necessity for honoring the Americans who had died on that ground. Without it, how would we perceive the war? It leant a gravity and necessity for finishing the job, and hope that the nation could survive such a traumatic split.

The 2nd Inaugural is, as several have noted, important because it sets the goals for the future as Lincoln saw them. Had he survived, I'm not sure we would hold it in such esteem--but because he did not, that "road map" as Terry nicely termed it, was vital to guide the nation (we wobbled around a bit, but finally got there--mostly) through the rest of the war and reconstruction. It does contain some wonderful writing--and both my English students and history students have the opportunity to study it. In fact, both are required by Texas education law.

State law requires them to study both is interesting, here in Florida I don't think school kids know either one.

 

[Nathanb1]

State law requires them to study both is interesting, here in Florida I don't think school kids know either one.

8th grade U.S. History (to 1877).....and as you can see, something even better, because they see for themselves the difference in the two leaders of the separate entities. Guess who comes off waaaaaaaaaaaaay better?

(8) History. The student understands individuals, issues, and events of the Civil War. The student is expected to:

(A) explain the roles played by significant individuals during the Civil War, including Jefferson Davis, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, and Abraham Lincoln, and heroes such as congressional Medal of Honor recipients William Carney and Philip Bazaar;

(B) explain the causes of the Civil War, including sectionalism, states' rights, and slavery, and significant events of the Civil War, including the firing on Fort Sumter; the battles of Antietam, Gettysburg, and Vicksburg; the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation; Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House; and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln; and

(C) analyze Abraham Lincoln's ideas about liberty, equality, union, and government as contained in his first and second inaugural addresses and the Gettysburg Address and contrast them with the ideas contained in Jefferson Davis's inaugural address.

 

[cash]

Guess who comes off waaaaaaaaaaaaay better?

Wi---ll?

 

[TerryB]

A friend lent me the DVD "Lincoln," and I was gratified that the movie ended with the stirring parts of the 2nd Inaugural. A very nice finish for a very good movie.

 

[matthew mckeon]

I teach both. We do just about a line by line analysis.