The Words of President Lincoln Essay

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.

Lastly the Gettysburg Address was one of the main turning points in the war. In Document D Lincoln talks about how the soldiers on the battlefield were holy for fighting in Gettysburg. President Lincoln gave the Gettysburg address, during the address Lincoln talks about the soldiers that were fighting in Gettysburg. Also Lincoln addressed slavery in the Gettysburg address, Lincoln asked his supporters to help the slavery problem.(document D). The supporters tried to help Lincoln by giving freedom to slaves.

In his Second Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln provided one of the most memorable speeches in history that affected the way American citizens saw the war. The March 4th speech in 1865 gave more people hope for the country and allowed them to trust that God will help them through the Civil War. The people trusted Lincoln to help them through the situation because he had already served his first term as president, and the people knew he was trustworthy, so they re-elected him. Lincoln professionally used rhetorical appeals such as ethos pathos and logos to press his audience to agree, as well as tone to show his audience how importantly they should be taking the subject. Abraham’s Second Inaugural Address was an introduction to his plan for the United States for the next years he would be president, and much of it was a discussion about the Civil War and how they would bring it to an end.

The Gettysburg address was announced by Abraham Lincoln after the Battle of Gettysburg in the civil war. His main goal was to remind the nation that the soldiers who fought this battle did it to create a country where everyone is equal and to unify America. He reminds everyone of this through the use of repetition throughout his speech, designed to provoke a shameful feeling from the audience. This shame provoked is used to inspire people to continue fighting for a better nation by joining the army or trying to unify the states, which is Lincoln’s true motive, specifically through juxtaposition.

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

The purpose of the “Gettysburg Address” was to tell the country to move on and to give them hope that the country will be reunited. The concept of freedom is also presented in this speech. In line 1-2, Lincoln says that the fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation conceived in liberty”. Lincoln says that the country is “testing whether that nation… can long endure”. By this, Lincoln means that the country was fighting to preserve peace and freedom.

While the Gettysburg Address is short in length at around 300 words, this famous speech by President Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania is still both enduring and meaningful for all Americans today, almost exactly 146 years later. The first paragraph of his speech sets the tone, in which Lincoln does not directly mention the bloody Battle of Gettysburg, in which 50,000 soldiers lost their lives. Instead, he refers in the opening phrase, “Four score and seven years ago,” to the founding of America through another important written document, the Declaration of Independence in 1776. I believe Lincoln wanted all Americans to focus on preserving this country, and in his speech, he reminded all American

In the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln concisely stated the message in which our country was founded on the idea that all men are created equal. He states the significance of the battle in were, many made the ultimate sacrifice while standing up for this ideals reminding us that although words can often be forgotten, the actions of those brave ones will never be forgotten. He too mentions the responsibility we all share to continue the legacy of those who died in the battle.

Weeks of wet weather had occurred before Saturday March 4th, 1865, making Pennsylvania Avenue a thick, muddy place; however, the pounding rain did not stop the spectators from listening to Lincoln give his Second Inaugural Address, given one month before the end of the Civil War. The Civil War was the result of a long standing controversy over slavery. The North and the South did not agree with each other. Slavery in the North had died out to the point where almost all blacks were free. The South on the other hand very few blacks were free. Causing a long lastly disagreement between both sides. When Lincoln gave his speech spectators were expecting a speech on slavery when Lincoln gave a dark gloomy speech that no one saw coming. The Civil War had lasted through his passed presidency and ended five days before his death. United States President Abraham Lincoln surprised his massive audience with a very short speech in which he talked about the effects of the Civil War, and expressed his feelings toward the future of the United States. Lincoln wanted to restore faith in the nation, talking about how the war would end soon, and that the nation was going to reunite. In this short speech Lincoln asserts that the audience knows and is knowledgeable about the war, which shows that the Americans know the war was just by using juxtaposition. Lincoln addresses his opinion towards the war, and makes it clear by utilizing biblical allusion, creating a basis of mutual agreement between the North and the South.

The Gettysburg address was not so much focused on an issue or debate. When Lincoln started writing this speech, its intention was to be in memory, devotion and honor to those who died, and also to declare the ground as a cemetery. He says “We are met on a great battlefield of that war. 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

Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address speech saying,“the world will little note nor long remember what we say here. But it will never forget what they did here.” (p. 18) Lincoln’s speech was given during the Civil War, the bloodiest war in American history, mostly over the back then controversial issue of slavery. Calling for true equality among people, and citing how all men were created equal from the Declaration of Independence, Lincoln makes a clear stance against slavery. Some people agreed with Lincoln, interpreting that the message of the speech calls for a positive change within society, where all humans are treated fairly and humanely. In the other hand, others were horrified by what the president said and viewed the speech threatening their way of life, main source of income and most profitable asset. Some people gave life to the speech, viewing it as a vision of a better future, free of prejudice and racism. They allowed the language to grow into something much bigger than a speech, taking little note of what exacts words are being said and focusing on the ideal and vision it provides. However, others took a completely different approach,

The time of the speech was towards the end of the civil war, when the North and the South where still fighting after a bitter 4 year war. The battle of Gettysburg had already been fought and Lincoln had given the distinguished Gettysburg address just a few months before. He spoke of freedom, devotion, and the ideals for which he believed the Union stood. Lincoln had also already written the emancipation proclamation which had freed the slaves of the south in the previous year. The audience which

Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address was very different from his first one, making it the most profound political statement in American History. While 1865 was the last year of the Civil War, Lincoln still had to console the public how the reconstruction of a slave free nation would take place moving forward. But the war had been long and arduous, and the lives lost would not be forgotten easily by both sides. So the best way to address then was to keep the speech selfless and expressive in a few sentences.

     When writing the Gettysburg Address Lincoln had in mind the equality of all citizens. He felt that winning back the South and abolishing slavery was a tough fight that many had given their life to win. Lincoln expressed this when he said, “It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who have fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.”(Doc.25 lines 12-14). In the Address, Lincoln also showed his fears of losing the war. “…That these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that the government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” (Doc. 25 lines 17-20). This also meant that Lincoln thought that if the nation remained divided it could not survive, that the country and unique type of government it had would no longer be in existence.

We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom--symbolizing an end as well as a beginning--signifying renewal as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago.