https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/lincoln1.asp ( first inaugural address) https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/gettyb.asp (Gettysburg address) https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/lincoln2.asp (Second inaugural address) In each of these three speeches, President Abraham Lincoln discussed his views of why the Civil War happened. First, in his First Inaugural Address, Lincoln explained why the war (which had not yet begun) might happen. Second, in the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln reflected on the war still in progress. Third, in his Second Inaugural Address, Lincoln reflected on the sacrifice and suffering of the conflict, and looked forward to what might happen next. Your task: In 3 pages, use the three speeches by Abraham Lincoln to explain the causes and consequences of the Civil War. Double-space with 1″ margins and a standard 12-point typeface. Using a mix of paraphrase (putting Lincoln’s ideas into your own words) and direct quotation (using Lincoln’s words as he wrote them), use specific evidence from the speeches to show Lincoln’s changing explanation of why the Civil War happened and why it was worth fighting. Use only your lecture notes, the texts of the three speeches, and our textbook when writing your paper. DO NOT use any outside sources. Google and Wikipedia are NOT your friends for this assignment. Since all of these are online sources without page numbers, please use parentheses to indicate your sources (First Inaugural) (Gettysburg) (Second Inaugural) (Textbook). There is no need to cite information that comes from lecture. If you use outside sources (even though you should not) please cite them as well. The question “why did the Civil War happen?” is both straightforward and complicated. What was the dispute that caused the war? Why was there a war instead of some other resolution? Lincoln provides a different explanation in each of these three speeches. In the video version of the instructions, I have also included a short excerpt of the great historian of the American South C. Vann Woodward explaining to Ken Burns that wars never start for a single reason so he cannot give a brief explanation of why the Civil War happened except to quote Lincoln: “And the war came.” “The Civil War; Interview with C. Vann Woodward,” 1986-07-09, Ken Burns – Florentine Films, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (WGBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed October 15, 2020, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-509-9882j68v5b. Direct link to the video instructions in case the embedded video will not play for you: https://youtu.be/LBrMy9w9CJU
