The Inaugurations of 1865 and 2021

It has been three weeks since the inspirational inauguration of President Joe Biden. There are some distinct differences and a significant similarity between that inauguration on January 20 and President Lincoln’s second inauguration on March 4, 1865.

The Inauguration of 1865

This Friday is 2.12 and the 212^th birthday anniversary of Abraham Lincoln. Perhaps the most often quoted POTUS in American history, his short Second Inaugural Address was one of his most powerful speeches.

Lincoln won the 1864 election, held during the Civil War, as the candidate of the National Union Party (made up of Republicans and “War Democrats”). He defeated Democratic candidate George McClellan with 55% of the popular vote and with a whopping 212-21 advantage in the Electoral College.

Lincoln’s inaugural address the following March ended with these impressive words:

With malice toward none with charity for all with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan ~ to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

(Here is the link to that 3/4/1865 inaugural address, which was only a tad over 700 words long. At that link you can both read the speech and hear it read. And this is the link to my blog post in 2/2015, which was mostly about that remarkable address.) 

The Inauguration of 2021

President Biden’s inaugural address was a solid one, but perhaps there were not a lot of memorable statements. The following words spoken to the international community, though, are noteworthy:

America has been tested and we’ve come out stronger for it. We will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again, not to meet yesterday’s challenges but today’s and tomorrow’s challenges. And we’ll lead not merely by the example of our power, [but] by the power of our example. We’ll be a strong and trusted partner for peace, progress, and security.

The most memorable words at the inauguration were spoken by Amanda Gorman, the dynamic young inaugural poet. She ended her poem, “The Hill We Climb,” with these words articulated with her immaculate diction,

The new dawn blooms as we free it
For there is always light,
if only we're brave enough to see it
If only we're brave enough to be it.

(In case you want to hear/read Gorman’s poem again, here is a link to it.)

Differences and a Similarity

The Senate’s second impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump is set to begin today. As you know, the House of Representatives voted on January 13 to impeach the 45^th POTUS. The tally was 232-197 with ten Republicans and all the Democrats voting to impeach DJT for “incitement of insurrection.”

Before that vote, however, House Republican Whip Steve Scalise cited Lincoln’s words about having “malice toward none” in voicing his opposition to impeachment.

Scalise ended his appeal for acquittal of DJT: "Madam Speaker, in times like these, let’s not reach for our darkest demons but instead, like Lincoln, seek the higher ground.”

Then, in the week following Biden’s inauguration, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley portrayed Trump as a victim of ill will and exclaimed “Give the man a break! . . . move on.”

Seeking to convince lawbreakers—or high government officials inciting insurrection—is not done because of malice, though. It is done for the sake of justice and with the intent of keeping society—or democracy—safe.

Lincoln’s second inaugural address was near the end of a long civil war in which perhaps up to 750,000 soldiers had died—and he had won the election by a huge landslide.

By contrast, Biden’s inaugural address was after a disputed election, just two weeks after an attempted insurrection, and with extensive armed protection, for it was not known what the insurgents might do to disrupt the festive events of January 20.

One thing is clearly the same now as in 1865, though: we all want a “just and lasting peace.”