Rhetorical Analysis: The Gettysburg Address

Seven score and nine years ago, Abraham Lincoln, our sixteenth President of the United States of America, set off for Gettysburg in order to consecrate Gettysburg National Cemetery. In an uncharacteristically short speech-at least for the 1860s-Lincoln was able to reaffirm the values our Founding Fathers had laid down in the Declaration of Independence as well as the Constitution, and painted a vision of a unified United States where freedom and democracy would be the rule for all citizens. Lincoln utilized various rhetorical devices to make the Gettysburg Address accomplish two tasks in one. The first is to bring remembrance to the principals and morals for which the United States was built upon, second is to honor the brave soldiers who fought and died at Gettysburg and consecrate the land upon which they stood and finally was to sway those attending into giving their “…last full measure of devotion-” to ensure a nation that would remain built upon the concepts of liberty and democracy and continues to gain support for the cause of the war.. Seeking only to honor the dead and inspire the living, Lincoln ended up delivering one of the most powerful speeches in American-if not world-history.

The historian David Blight says that Lincoln’s message in the Gettysburg Address was to help the people recover from the deficit from the Battle of Gettysburg and the casualties that were caused by it. Lincoln simply wants to rebuild the country.

A speech from the movie “Remember the Titans,” (2000) brings out the importance and reasoning for the movie to be made. The Gettysburg Speech, by Coach Herman Boone is very strong and straight to the point of the movie. Coach Herman brings the movie to life with his speech about playing the game on a battlefield. He talks about how the fight for lives were fought on the same field as the football team were playing on to fight for their lives. This speech is meant for any age group, although it is specifically addressed to ones who play football. Coach Herman Boone uses the rhetorical appeals of logos, pathos, and ethos to inspire the football players to remove all their hate to become an actual team.

To begin with ethos, president Lincoln starts his speech by referring to the Founding Fathers, which helps him gain the listeners’ attention and to establish his credibility. He then mentions the basic principles on which the American nation was founded, that is liberty and equality, which also adds to his credibility. The president knows that many of his listeners lost the loved ones in the battle and that the majority wants the war to end, so he clarifies his motive for ending the war and states: “the brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract”. Those men died fighting for the

The Gettysburg Address is one of the most famous speeches in American history. The History Place indicates that on November 19, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln went to a battle field positioned in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania where three dreadful days of battle occurred called the Battle of Gettysburg. While he was attending the battle field to dedicate it as a national cemetery, he read his speech to the public. After the main orator, Edward Everett of Massachusetts, delivered his speech that lasted about two hours, it was Lincoln’s turn. Everyone was shocked that it only lasted a little over two minutes. The speech talked about the men who fought in the Civil War to help create the nation people have today: that it is only fair to honor them

"Gettysburg Address." Political Glossaries: A Glossary of US Politics and Government, Alex Thomson, Edinburgh University Press, 1st edition, 2007. Credo Reference, http://ezproxy.apus.edu/login?url=http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/eupguspg/gettysburg_address/0?institutionId=8703. Accessed 21 Nov 2017.

In the last paragraph of the speech, President Lincoln is telling the American people that the proper way to honor the brave soldiers is to dedicate and devote your life to the country, one which there will be, “a new birth of freedom.” Lincoln points out this government will represent all the people, and will remain forever. President Lincoln, through this speech is trying heal the nation that is divided by the great Civil War, and offering

union he may have lost the election. In several speeches made by Douglass he expressed "the mission of the war was the liberation of the slaves as well as the salvation of the Union. I reproached the North that they fought with one hand, while they might fight more effectively with two; that they fought with the soft white hand, while they kept the black iron hand chained and helpless behind them; that they fought the effect, while they protected the cause; and said that the Union cause would never prosper until the war assumed an anti-slavery attitude and the Negro was enlisted on the side of the Union." After the announcement of the Proclamation of Emancipation, the Governor of Massachusetts was given permission to create the regiment of

Repetition is the final key rhetorical device in the address. Two examples of repetition are in the opening statement of the Gettysburg Address which set the repetitious nature of the whole speech. Common expression, such as “we,” “our,” and “us,” is used to tie the entire address together, but this set of repletion is outweighed by the other. The word “dedicated” has been used in the speech to not only tie the entire speech together but to also appeal to pathos, an emotional appeal. The words “I” and “you” are absent from the speech, instead Lincoln uses words such as “we,” “our,” and “us,” to include the people of the Union and the Confederacy to unite both parties as a whole under the one

Seven score and fourteen years ago, following the Battle of Gettysburg, President Abraham Lincoln stood in front of a crowd of approximately 1,500 people and gave a short speech. His audience included surviving Union soldiers, families of those who perished, and some politicians, all of whom gathered to consecrate the National Cemetery at Gettysburg. The Gettysburg Address, although only 271 words and lasting a mere two minutes, is one of the most well-known speeches in American history. In it, Lincoln argues that though he would like to dedicate the field to the fallen soldiers, there is no way to “add or detract” from the consecration those men gave with their blood (Lincoln). In the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln uses the stasis forms of evaluation and proposal to convince his audience of the importance of the fallen soldiers. Using the rhetorical appeals of pathos, appealing to emotions of the distressed soldiers, ethos, catching the attention of his audience with both his diction and his position granting him credibility, and logos, structuring his speech in such a way as to draw in his audience, he successfully resolves his constraints while continually surrounding his argument around the exigence, the loss of life at the Battle of Gettysburg, to the target audience.

In Lincoln’s speech he recognized the losses that the union suffered and honored the dead with his most famous speech, it was about the purpose of the soldier’s sacrifice, equality, freedom, and national unity. The speech didn’t have much effect during his lifetime, in many ways it was forgotten and lost to popular memory until the U.S. centennial in 1876, when its significance was reconsidered in light of the war’s

At the time when our country was divided and the Civil War was ongoing, a President delivered one of the most influential speeches of all time; The Gettysburg Address. On November 19, 1863, four months after the Battle at Gettysburg former President Abraham Lincoln addressed the weary soldiers, the deceased soldiers’ family members, and many other citizens that traveled far and wide to attend the dedication ceremony. The dedication was for the Soldiers’ National Cemetery, in the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Over 20,000 people were in attendance, they witnessed first had a powerful and heartfelt speech. Furthermore, it became one of the greatest masterpieces of all time. With 227 words Lincoln planted the seed in the hearts and minds of the people in attendance, with the notion of reforming the nation by discussing the Declaration of Independence, slavery, honoring the dead, dedication to the cause, and new birth of freedom. (LaFantasie 74)

The Gettysburg speech was short, sharp, powerful and one to remember. Still to this day it remains to a well known, well respected speech.

Lincoln concludes his speech by explaining that even though he would he could dedicate the grounds, it would be remembered not by his words, but by the lives of the young men that fought here. he uses

Four and a half months after the Union defeated the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863. He gave the Union soldiers a new perspective on the war and a reason to fight in the Civil War. Before the address, the Civil War was based on states’ rights. Lincoln’s speech has the essence of America and the ideals that were instilled in the Declaration of Independence by the Founders. The sixteenth president of the United States was capable of using his speech to turn a war on states’ rights to a war on slavery and upholding the principles that America was founded upon. By turning the Civil War into a war about slavery he effortlessly ensured that no foreign country would