Second Inaugural Address (Closing)
Abraham Lincoln, March 4, 1865
The famous closing sentence of Lincoln's second inaugural address, delivered weeks before the Civil War's end.
Download the handwriting worksheet (PDF)Printable, ruled for handwriting: copy it by hand, then type it here.
About this text
Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address on March 4, 1865, five weeks before his assassination and about a month before the Civil War's end, and this excerpt is its final sentence — one of the most quoted closing lines in American political speech. Rather than claiming victory, the speech as a whole reflects on the war as a shared national judgment, which is part of why this closing turns toward binding up wounds rather than celebrating triumph.
The whole excerpt is a single sentence, built from a string of parallel infinitive phrases — "to finish... to bind up... to care for... to do all which..." — that keeps extending rather than resolving until its very end. Copying it means holding one long sentence in mind across several clauses, which is more demanding than it looks given how familiar the phrase "malice toward none, charity for all" has become on its own.
What to watch for
- 1 apostrophe: sort each one into possession (the shepherd's staff) or a missing letter (don't = do not).
- Capital letters in the middle of a sentence: God. Ask why each one is capitalized before typing it.
- Longest word: "ourselves" (9 letters). Try spelling it aloud once before reaching it.
- 1 lines averaging about 74 words each. Long lines: a younger child may do half the text per sitting.
Full text (reference)
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.