I'm John Batchel with Professor Richard Carverty in the book His Righteous

Strife.

Professor Lincoln Aft knew that the war was done when Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse.

And he had a few days of relaxation.

He made a speech on the front lawn of the White House, I believe.

And he mentioned that there was much work ahead.

Now, in that crowd that night, according to reports, was his assassin.

So leaving that tragedy to the side, what did Lincoln make of the end of the war?

Did he believe that he could knit this country back together after the slaughter?

Did he write it down in such a fashion?

I wish he had. I'm sorry. Did he convey it to other pastors? Because there were a lot of

dialogue that last year. I wish he had written it down in a form that we could consult

today.

What is clear is that he understood that the task of reconstruction, of reuniting the nation,

was no easy feat, would be no easy feat.

And he made the start on that, he would recall in his second inaugural.

When instead of using it to rejoice at the near end of the war

and to congratulate the troops, in fact, it's a sermon, a reflection on the war that's just been fought,

how both sides in this war have prayed to the same God,

and how, in a sense, the God that they'd prayed to,

had not answered the prayers of either side as swiftly or as well as they would have liked.

And he asked the question why.

...