Sir, I will detain you no longer.  There are some parts of this bill which I highly approve; there are others in which I should acquiesce; but those to which I have now stated my objections appear to me so destitute of all justice, so burdensome and so dangerous to that interest which has steadily enriched, gallantly defended, and proudly distinguished us, that nothing can prevail upon me to give it my support.

    DANIEL WEBSTER:  The Tariff, 1824

The Anticipatory Conclusion.  Just as a conclusion may be retrospective, so it may be anticipatory.  It may start from the position defined or explained or reached by the speech and look forward to what may happen, what must be done, what should be instituted, what should be changed, what votes should be cast, what punishment should be inflicted, what pardons granted.  The student should make a list of all possible things in the future which could be anticipated in the conclusions of various speeches.  If one will think of the purposes of most delivered speeches he will realize that this kind of conclusion is much more frequent than the previous kind as so many speeches anticipate future action or events.  Dealing with entirely different topics the three following extracts illustrate this kind of conclusion.  Washington was arguing against the formation of parties in the new nation, trying to avert the inevitable.

There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government, and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty.  This within certain limits is probably true; and in governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence if not with favor upon the spirit of party.  But in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged.  From their natural tendency it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose.  And there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be by force of public opinion to mitigate and assuage it.  A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.

    GEORGE WASHINGTON:  Farewell Address, 1796

With the dignity and the calmness of the preceding, contrast the Biblical fervor of the next—­the magnanimous program of the reuniter of a divided people.

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.

    ABRAHAM LINCOLN:  Second Inaugural, 1865

In totally different circumstances the next conclusion was delivered, yet it bears the same aspect of anticipation.  There is not a single hint in it of the material of the speech which preceded it, it takes no glance backward, it looks forward only.  Its effectiveness comes from the element of leadership, that gesture of pointing the way for loyal Americans to follow.