Here is Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, accompanied by my reading of it, which you can hear now or download as an mp3 file using the gizmo below.
Many consider this the greatest political speech ever given. The Civil War cost 600,000 lives, counting both sides, more than in all other U.S. conflicts combined. Lincoln's main purpose was to preserve the Union (the Nation). He had hoped to avoid a war, but he was also determined to prevent the spread of slavery to the Missouri Territories as they became states. He hoped that the evil institution would come to an end as the Nation developed.