Speeches: Lincoln\'s \"Second Inaugural,\" Robespierre\'s

¶ … speeches: Lincoln's "Second Inaugural," Robespierre's "Justification of the Use of Terror," and Churchill's "We Shall Fight on the Beaches." Through a brief summary of these important speeches and a consideration of how they attempted to achieve their purposes, the paper will consider the impacts of the speeches from both a rhetorical and a historical perspective.

Lincoln delivered his "Second Inaugural" address on the occasion of his reelection and reappointment to the presidency of the United States. He gave the speech during the height of the Civil War, during one of the most critical periods in the nation's history. Both the North and the South waited to hear what the president would say, with the Union states needing to hear a justification of the war and an exhortation that would carry them through to victory and the Confederate states wanting to hear a sign of weakness. What Lincoln delivered was a powerful address placing the battle in the context of a unity torn by disagreement over slavery but characterized (on his side at least) by a determined resolve to be restored. He clearly places the blame for the war on the southern states, and argues that their desire to protect the institution of slavery even at the cost of going to war cannot and will not stand. But he offers a firm assessment of the ultimate resolution of the war, which consists of the restoration of the nation and the reintegration of the southern states into the union. "With malice toward none, with charity toward all," Lincoln argues -- and this in a time of war -- the Union will preserve until the nation is restored. He utilizes Biblical themes to link the nation together in a common heritage and also to warn that the Union will fight if necessary, according to "God's will," until "two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword." In this way, he lets the South know his resolve is not to be trifled with, even as he suggests he is eager to welcome them back home.

Robespierre argues in a speech by turns logical and eloquent, that in order to establish democracy, the popular will must be enforced with a virtuous application of terror. He delivered the speech during the height of the French Revolution in an attempt to justify the political violence which the revolutionary tribunal had indulged in as it sought to implement its (ultimately) peaceful reforms. He argues that the very "sublimity" of the tribunal's aims had resulted in vicious royalist counter-revolutionary activities by men who hoped to protect their private interests by preventing the revolution, and that killing such men was justified. "Subdue by terror the enemies of liberty, and you will be right," he argues, hoping to speed the pace of the revolutionary throngs.

Churchill delivers his speech at a low moment in the midst of England's battle against the Nazis. In a very brief address, he declares in no uncertain terms the nation's resolve to go on fighting the Gestapo without flag or fail. He repeats the phrase "we shall fight" eight times in successive phrases in a single sentence, ending that sentence with "we shall never surrender" in order to show that whatever the costs, wherever the battle, his country will continue until the end. His purpose is twofold: (1) to shore up the resolve of the English people in their cause, and, (2) as evidenced in the last phrase, to call out the United States, "the New World, with all its power and might," to aid in "the liberation of the old."