Abraham Lincoln Second Inaugural Address

[Amy L.]

Right before an Inauguration is to be given --

Here we are, so many years in the future - The battles, bloodshed, and generations lost to the Civil War were critical at the time - but what most-handily remains are leaders' recorded words.

Did Lincoln sense how dependent future generations would be on his words when faced with a crisis-of-identity? 

The Atlantic: What Lincoln's Second Inaugural Meant https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...ource=feed

Mr. Ignatieff pretends he can get into Lincoln's head.  Several assumptions made early in the article seem improbable. (Lincoln didn't write a short speech to disappoint; he was in the habit of being concise.)
The conclusion of the editorial is great, "We can reach back... to whatever deep wisdom we have ever been taught, and can find out, once again, who we are, where we are, what we must accept, and what we must do." ...