LAD#15

At the time of this speech, the South had lost the Civil War, and slavery had been officialy outlawed. Instead of celebrating, or scorning the south, Lincoln said that both sides should be ashamed of settling their differences violently. At the start of the Civil War, Lincoln had sought to preserve the union, and with his relatively neutral speech, he showed that he followed through his first term, with that intention in mind. He also made it clear that he thought slavery was evil, although he divulges this in the Emancipation Proclamation. Also, this historic speech defended Lincoln's views of reconstruction.