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How Does Lincoln Use Ethos In The Gettysburg Address

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In 1863, the Civil War raged on in America and July saw one of the bloodiest battles in American history, and the bloodiest of the Civil War. The Battle of Gettysburg came at a tremendous cost to both sides; an estimated 51,000 soldiers died during the three-day onslaught. This battle questioned both sides will to fight. Morale was running extremely low and many people wanted the war to be over. On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg Address to honor the fallen soldiers and to try to revive the war fervor that many Americans had lost. The Gettysburg Address is an oratory masterpiece that effectively utilizes multiple rhetorical tools, literary devices, and key phrases to persuade the audience to not give up their fight …show more content…

The fact that Lincoln is the President gives him a level of Situated Ethos. In the introduction in the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln uses Invented Ethos. “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” He references the founding fathers and how they founded the nation in liberty and were dedicated to the idea that all men were created equal. The Invented Ethos utilizes the founding fathers of the U.S. in order to strengthen Lincoln’s argument as well as gain the audience’s full attention. By referencing history, such as the signing of Declaration of Independence, Lincoln establishes credibility for himself, showing that he has an understanding of history and is able to tie it to the present day. Lincoln additionally uses Invented Ethos when he speaks about those soldiers whom gave their lives at the Battle of Gettysburg. The third paragraph contains one such example.“The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.” By doing this, Lincoln gives evidence to his overall claim that the Northerners who are listening should support the soldiers’ plight, and not give up their fight against the …show more content…

Lincoln is able to use his audience’s emotional state, which was generally depressed, to his advantage. After the Battle of Gettysburg, many families were tired of the war because of seeing their loved ones dead and reading about casualty counts in newspapers. Lincoln uses emotional arguments to persuade his audience to stay in the war and continue the fight. In the second paragraph, Lincoln says, “We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.” Lincoln appeals to the listeners emotions by referencing their deceased loved ones to convince them not to cease their efforts in the war. Lincoln also uses Pathos in the third paragraph, when he says, “It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us....that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain...and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” This appeal to the public uses the suffering of the battle to emphasize the citizen’s job of maintaining the sense of freedom that every citizen of the United States should feel. He also appeals to the crowds sense of duty to stress that they must continue the fight to honor the fallen dead, so that they will not have died in vain, that their cause will not be

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