President Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address
In 1864, Lincoln was reelected, carrying fifty-four percent of the popular vote and all but three northern states—New Jersey, Delaware, and Kentucky. The president delivered his Second Inaugural Address from the east portico of the Capitol, under the building’s newly completed iron dome, on March 4, 1865. The power of the address is deepened by its conciseness and brevity, particularly when it is read in counterpoint with Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address. This typeset version of the address with a few annotations in Lincoln’s hand was the president’s reading copy on inauguration day. The spacing of each cut-and-pasted passage gives the viewer a sense of how he delivered the speech.
In 1864, Lincoln was reelected, carrying fifty-four percent of the popular vote and all but three northern states—New Jersey, Delaware, and Kentucky. The president delivered his Second Inaugural Address from the east portico of the Capitol, under the building’s newly completed iron dome, on March 4, 1865. The power of the address is deepened by its conciseness and brevity, particularly when it is read in counterpoint with Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address. This typeset version of the address with a few annotations in Lincoln’s hand was the president’s reading copy on inauguration day. The spacing of each cut-and-pasted passage gives the viewer a sense of how he delivered the speech.