“With Malice Towards None…”

                                         “With Malice Towards None…”

By Adina Moss

Was Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address the greatest in our nation’s history? Robert Schlesinger¹ranks it among the top five. In his list, he also included Thomas Jefferson’s first (1801), Franklin Roosevelt’s first and second (1933, 1937), and John Kennedy’s (1961). James Lindsay²places Lincoln’s first (1861) and second (1865) in his list of best inaugurals. Other addresses he included were by Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt (1905), Franklin Roosevelt’s first, John Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan (1981). Jeff D’Alessio³ranks Lincoln’s second inaugural as first in his top five. He included in his collection Thomas Jefferson’s first, Abraham Lincoln’s first, Franklin Roosevelt’s first, and John Kennedy’s.

We observe a general agreement among writers as they include many of the identical addresses. But while the same names appear, there is also consensus amongst historians that Lincoln’s second inaugural was the greatest.¹Â Â 

Why would that be?

Since George Washington gave the first such address, on April 30, 1789, there have been a total of 59 inaugural addresses. Many were given at troubling times in our nation’s history. Washington gave his (1789), our nation’s first, at the dawning of a new constitutional republic.  He noted the “shared responsibility of the President and Congress to preserve the sacred fire of liberty and a republican form of government.” Jefferson gave his during the first peaceful transfer of power between different parties, in 1801. “But every difference of opinion,” he stated, “is not a difference of principle.”  John Kennedy’s inaugural was given at the height of the Cold War when he famously called upon fellow Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”  

But of all the orations given at times of grave peril, it is Lincoln’s second inaugural, delivered March 4, 1865, that deserves the highest regard for it offered solace and inspiration for a wounded and divided nation in the midst of its bloodiest war.⁴With the Union forces victorious, the slaves freed, and the Civil War coming to an end (April 9, 1865), Lincoln was not triumphalist but conciliatory.  He sought healing and unity not retribution or punishment, even as he acknowledged slavery as the cause of the war, and a grave evil that the nation had to expunge.  He sought divine providence and guidance, quoting from the Bible four times, invoking God’s name fourteen times, and summoning prayer three times.⁵“Woe unto the world because of offenses,” he said, acknowledging the wickedness of slavery and the punishment of war that came in its wake.In some 700 words, he comforted the nation, including his fellow countrymen in the south. “But let us judge not, that we are not judged,” he said, seeking not to condemn the south but to offer friendship instead.  He called for his countrymen “to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan.” At a time of profound suffering and devastation, he sought healing when he appealed to all to “bind the nation’s wounds.”⁵Using biblical references, poetic language, and metaphor, Lincoln strove, in his second inaugural, to unite the country at a time of immense tragedy and division.^6,7,8

 Inscribed in the Lincoln Memorial along with the Gettysburg Address, for all generations to ponder, it is a reminder of the eloquence and compassion of this historic figure who sacrificed himself for his country only five weeks later (April 15, 1865) when an assassin ended his life.  No speech has had a greater impact or is more highly regarded. Historians, indeed, are correct to cite Lincoln’s second inaugural as our greatest.  

1. Robert Schlesinger, The 5 Best Inaugural Addresses, January 18, 2013, US News,

https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2013/01/18/the-5-best-inaugural-addresses

2. James Lindsay, Remembering the Best (and Worst) Presidential Inaugural Addresses, January 18, 2021, Council on Foreign Relations,

https://www.cfr.org/blog/remembering-best-and-worst-presidential-inaugural-addresses

3. Jeff D’Alessio, The five best presidential inaugural addresses, from Jefferson to JFK, January 14, 2021,

https://www.news-gazette.com/news/the-five-best-presidential-inaugural-addresses-from-jefferson-to-jfk/article_fc12fcef-718c-5444-8f0a-41e8c1e2c838.html

4. Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, Wikipedia,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln%27s_second_inaugural_address

5. “With Malice Toward None…”: Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, 

https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/-with-malice-toward-none-lincoln-s-second-inaugural.htm

6. https://www.ronaldcwhite.com/books/lincolns-greatest-speech/
7. Michael Ignatieff, What Lincoln Knew, January 17, 2021, The Atlantic,

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/01/lincolns-second-inauguration/617698/

8. President Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, 1865, Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History,

https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/spotlight-primary-source/president-lincolns-second-inaugural-address-1865

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