One hundred fifty years ago, President Abraham Lincoln stood on the East steps of the U.S. Capitol and delivered one of the greatest speeches in American history: his second inaugural address. Many of us know the last part of it that begins: "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in." That message of mercy is only part of what Lincoln packed into his brief 703 words. We've asked Richard Striner, professor of history at Washington College in Chestertown and author of several books about Lincoln, to discuss Lincoln’s second inaugural.
Striner is the author of several books about Lincoln and has written about him for The New York Times. His latest book is Woodrow Wilson and World War I: A Burden Too Great to Bear.
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