Read the excerpt from lincoln's second inaugural address. [s]hall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living god always ascribe to him? fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. lincoln uses parallel structure to question listeners’ faith. explain his religious beliefs. encourage positive thinking. describe military action.

"encourage positive thinking."

Explanation:

Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural speech is probably his best known speech with the exception of him from Gettysburg. It is not surprising that these are the two speeches that are engraved in marble at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.

Lincoln had used his first inaugural address four years earlier to analyze what the Constitution had to say about the crisis facing our nation at that time. He had tried to persuade the South to voluntarily turn from the path he had taken without compromising the integrity of the Constitution and the system of government. That did not happen, and instead, as Lincoln would now say in his second inaugural speech, "Both parties looked down on the war; but one of them would wage war instead of letting the nation survive; and the other would accept the war instead of letting it perish. And the war came. "

The war had arrived, and finally, four long years later, it seemed to be coming to an end. After so many setbacks and disappointments, the President could now confidently express "great hope for the future". Faced with a radically different situation, Lincoln's speech was also completely different. It was much shorter than the first, and he did not mention the Constitution at all. Interestingly, Lincoln spoke very little about the future, and devoted most of his speech to the past, and in a way that was certainly not expected by the public that day.

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