Journal #20

Michelle Romero
English 48
Dr. Scott Lankford

Author: Abraham Lincoln
Speech: Second Inaugural Address

"Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not that we not be judged" (1636).

At this point, the North had officially won and Abraham Lincoln had been re-elected to a second term as president.

I am so awed by Lincoln's peaceful calm. His speeches are so anti-political it seems. (Except for the fact that he is going to go with the flow so as not to disrupt the masses). I think he might have been one of the United State's first hippies, all about peace. It is amazing that he can remain a great arbitrator between both the north and the south so as not to perpetuate any more violence or affliction.

Here, even after the North has now won, he can say that the profit obtained by the sweat of another man's toil is wrong, but can also say that it is no more wrong that the wrong done by any other man. He keeps the playing field neutral. He declares that no one should be the judge here on earth, but rather that each man will be judged accordingly by God.

In recent political speech, it seems we are always blaming someone. It is always someone's fault. But here, somehow Lincoln has a predisposition to peaceful calm that does not seem to sway him much. I think it is insightful of the ideology of the founding fathers since Lincoln repeatedly favors a government for the people, by the people. In that thinking, he can not give his personal opinion or declare that one thing is better than the other. Instead, he stands by and lets the people decide by their actions. He sees his role as simply being the glue that is supposed to maintain some sort of unity between them all, and nothing more.