Introduction This article focusses on a critical discourse analysis of the first inaugural address by Abraham Lincoln and the first inaugural address by Barack Obama on properties of discursive manipulation; including lexical, macro details, and grammatical elements. The rhetorical styles used by both presidents in their Addresses unquestionably influenced their degrees of success in achieving their political goals. Additionally political discourse is especially interesting to look at for this type of research since the speakers address the audience on both emotional and personal levels. The means of persuasion in both Addresses will be identified and analysed; examples of excerpts from the Addresses will be given to emphasize the manipulation in discourse and explain the strategies both…show more content… What is not being said here is the fact that seven southern States had seceded. The president is intentionally vague about this occurrence, he believed they did not leave the Union simply because he believed they could not do that. He considered it an illegal act and unconstitutional for the States to leave the Union. The president appears to be reasonable and reassuring towards the secessionists, while at the same time placing them in negative and weak position. Not acknowledging secession of the States isn’t the only textual omission in his Address. President Lincoln never argued the immorality of slavery in his first Address, he kept this monstrous issue vague in order to keep the Union together, in order to endure forever. The third textual omission is the fact that President Lincoln never mentions in his Address what he was going to do about federal property and the forts that came into Confederate hands. Another strategy by the cunning president enabling him to adapt his approach where necessary to the situation at