Editor’s note: This week we are counting down the top five inaugural addresses in U.S. history. At number one is Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address. Below, the historian Christine Dee of Fitchburg State College explains the importance of Lincoln’s address. Dee’s complete analysis of the document can be downloaded at MilestoneDocuments.com or Amazon.com.

As one of the central texts in American history, Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address, delivered on March 4, 1865, defined the meaning of the Civil War and approached the task of Reconstruction with humility and compassion. By identifying slavery as the cause of war, the speech stands as testament to the transformative power of the Civil War—a war begun to defend the Union that became a war to end slavery. By focusing on God’s presence and agency in the war, the speech stands as Lincoln’s most definitive statement on the Civil War’s meaning for the nation. Moving in its prose and striking in its clarity and brevity, the second inaugural address, composed of a mere 703 words, has become, as Lincoln believed it would, one of his most important works.

Thousands stood in inclement weather in Washington, D.C., to hear Lincoln’s speech, which lasted approximately six minutes. Listeners included Frederick Douglass, slaves who had gained their freedom through the Emancipation Proclamation, and John Wilkes Booth. Millions more people read the address in newspapers throughout the Union and Confederacy and in countries throughout the world.

Lincoln’s reference to the satisfactory progress of the military, an observer noted, was followed by a pause. A reporter for the New York Herald thought Lincoln anticipated applause, but the sentence was met with silence. The crowd offered applause when Lincoln noted that the Union would accept war before accepting secession and when he identified slavery as the cause of the war. Lincoln’s reference to Genesis regarding slave owners’ gaining their bread from the sweat of others was received as satire and prompted some laughter. For the remaining speech, the crowd was silent, with the exception of periodic praise to God offered by some African Americans in attendance. Frederick Douglass believed the speech was more a sermon than a state document and approved of it, but he observed that others in attendance were not as moved.

Throughout the North, response to the speech was tepid. The next morning, Western Union completed its connection from New York City to San Francisco, and Lincoln’s speech was telegraphed to the coast. Newspapers that typically supported Lincoln, such as the New York Times, were disappointed that Lincoln had not celebrated Union achievements or affirmed that Confederate submission was the only term for peace. Others complained that Lincoln had defined slavery as the cause of the war but had failed to mention the Thirteenth Amendment, which would abolish slavery. Democratic newspaper editors found the effort entirely lacking and overly general as well. A comparatively few editorials in the northern press recognized the historic significance of the document. In the South, there were few newspapers altogether—only twenty-two continued to be published. Some of these dismissed the effort, while others were uncertain how to reconcile the theology of the address with their own belief in a Confederate nationalism that was explicitly Christian. In Europe the address was praised for its simplicity and modesty and for Lincoln’s desire that the peace be lasting both among Americans and with other nations.

Lincoln, of course, recognized that his effort was met with much criticism. On March 15, nine days after his address, he wrote to Thurlow Reed, a New York Republican politician, thanking Reed for a complimentary letter, and acknowledged that his speech was not roundly praised. This, Lincoln believed, derived from its emphasis on religion—specifically his assertion that God’s purpose may differ from men’s, but he believed that people needed to be reminded that God governed the world. He believed that as president he could make such a statement and predicted the address would endure as well as any speech he had given.

In his prediction of the second inaugural address’s historic significance, Lincoln was prescient. While the Gettysburg Address has traditionally been seen as his greatest statement of the significance of the Civil War, recent scholarship argues that the second inaugural address is the definitive statement of the war’s meaning. For those interested in Lincoln’s religious beliefs, the speech is seen as his clearest statement of his theology, although biographers differ on whether it is best characterized as fatalism or Providence and whether it was shaped by his Primitive Baptist upbringing or Old Presbyterian worship. The final paragraph has also been used to articulate America’s vision of itself as well as to highlight instances when the nation failed to live up to Lincoln’s mandate.

Top 5 Inaugural Addresses: No. 5 (Thomas Jefferson’s first inaugural address)

Top 5 Inaugural Addresses: No. 4 (Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first inaugural address)

Top 5 Inaugural Addresses: No. 3 (George Washington’s first inaugural address)

Top 5 Inaugural Addresses: No. 2 (John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address)