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Rhetorical Analysis Of The Gettysburg Address

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On November 19, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln issued a speech labeled the Gettysburg Address. This speech was minimal and only contained two hundred seventy-two words; Lincoln conveyed a message that addressed the soldiers who fought and have been fighting in the American Civil War. He honored them and by giving the speech, he allowed others to view the sacrifices that were made to keep the country safe. Lincoln’s goal was to inspire the troops in battle to not give up and to advance in the war towards the goal of winning and looking forward to the coming end of the war which would happen two years later in 1865. Throughout the speech Lincoln conveys a benevolent tone through his use of repetition, anaphora, and irony. President Lincoln starts the speech with a sentence that addresses the United States expressing the rebirth or new nation. Directly from the start of the speech, he acknowledges a time eighty-seven years prior, “Four score and seven years ago…” (Lilian Goldman Law Library). Relating the speech back to the Declaration of Independence gives the reader a flashback to the beginning of our nation as a whole where all men …show more content…

President Lincoln graciously thanks all of the soldiers and honors them on a portion of the battle field as their final resting place (Lilian Goldman Law Library). He explains that the men at war gave their lives so that the nation could fulfill its life and be free, showing compassion towards the audience. Along with repetition, anaphora, is used. Lincoln presents anaphora when he says, “…we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground (Lilian Goldman Law Library).” This sentence signifies the strong respect for which he has towards the living and deceased

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President Abraham Lincoln, in his inaugural address, addresses the topic of the civil war and its effects on the nation and argues that America could be unified once more. He supports his claim by using massive amounts of parallel structure and strong word choice. Lincoln ‘s purpose is to contemplate the effects of the civil war in order to unite the broken America once again. He adopts a very hopeful tone for his audience, the readers of the inaugural address and others interested in the topic of American history and the civil war.

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Abraham Lincoln wrote “The Gettysburg Address” to remind the audience that they’re fighting the war to unite the nation and give equality to everyone. He uses rhetorical appeals to develop and support his purpose. Throughout his speech, he uses ethos by alluding to the Declaration of Independence, an example being in the first paragraph when he states, “all men are created equal”. By using ethos, he establishes that he is credible by referencing a trusted document that supports his purpose of equality. Another way he develops his purpose is by using logos when he claims that it’s “fitting and proper” that they should dedicate part of the battlefield to the people who died fighting (2).

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During the history of the United States there have been very respectable speakers Martin Luther King Jr. John F. Kennedy but perhaps no greater leader in American history came to addressing the country like Abraham Lincoln. In his Second Inaugural Address, Lincoln gave a short speech concerning the effect of the Civil War and his own personal vision for the future of the nation. In this speech Lincoln uses many different rhetorical strategies to convey his views of the Civil War to his audience.

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Specifically, 1776 the year we gained our independence from Great Britain. He reminds us where we came from and how we as people joined together in the past to defeat a common enemy. Abraham Lincoln reminds us that we came from a king that showed no mercy towards us Americans. President Lincoln takes time to show honor for all of those who fought in battle and got wounded or killed. “The Gettysburg Address” is specifically made up to this point in time in our nation’s gruesome history.

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In "The Gettysburg Address," Abraham Lincoln brings his point across of dedicating the cemetery at Gettysburg by using repetition, antithesis, and parallelism. Abraham Lincoln uses repetition in his speech to bring a point across and to grab the audience attention. For example, President Lincoln states, "We can not dedicate--we can not consecrate-- we can not hallow-- this ground." Abraham Lincoln is saying the Gettysburg cannot be a holy land since the ones that fought there will still be remembered, and Lincoln is assuming that the dead and brave that fought would still want Gettysburg to improve on more.

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President Abraham Lincoln uses a variety of rhetorical strategies in his Second Inaugural Address to pose an argument to the American people regarding the division in the country between the northern states and the southern states. Lincoln gives this address during the American Civil War, when politics were highly debated and there was a lot of disagreement. Lincoln calls for the people of America to overcome their differences to reunite as one whole nation once more. Lincoln begins his Second Inaugural Address by discussing the American Civil War and its ramifications.

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One of the most famous speeches in the history of the United States is the Gettysburg Address, delivered by Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The speech is directed to the American citizens and the soldiers to gain their support; Lincoln also wanted to lead the people to peace and prosperity. The main focus of the speech was to honor the soldiers that fought in the Battle of Gettysburg and to emphasize the importance of liberty. The tone of the speech is extremely hopeful in such a way that he hopes the audience will live a peaceful life.

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The Gettysburg Address was intended to be an argument to persuade. Abraham Lincoln was inspiring his troops because morale was low after the Battle of Gettysburg. They need motivation to keep fighting. Lincoln used logos by explaining that because people gave their lives defending what they believed in, the living should finish the job the dead started. By talking about the fellow soldiers who died at Gettysburg, Lincoln appeals to the pathos of his listeners.

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“Four score and seven years ago our fathers...”, (464) Lincoln was asking his audience to go back and discover that the country's foundation was not the constitution nor the election of the first president, George Washington, but the signing of the Declaration of Independance in 1776 by our founding fathers was the starting point of the nation.tg The rhetorical device repetition is also used in Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. We already know that his speech is being delivered at the memorial with thousands of people in attendance. When Lincoln says, “.. of the people, by the people, for the people…” (465), we can conclude that his is referring to the people that are in attendance of listening to his momentous speech. Lincoln is telling his fellow citizens that freedom is coming and “the people” will be granted all rights of it.

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The Gettysburg Address was one the most outstanding speech that Lincoln wrote. His style was one of a kind. Additionally you can hear the tone and his feelings in all of his speeches, but this one really make me want to read it several times. The area of the speech that stands out to me is “It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us” it’s as if he is saying that we need to continue the work that these great men devoted their lives to, and to never forget.

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Referring to such a defining moment in history were just one of the reasons why President Lincoln’s speech was so successful. The Gettysburg Address, one of the shortest, most quoted, and successful speeches in U.S. history was all due to the way President Lincoln was able to use ethos, logos, and pathos while presenting his speech to the audience at the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Firstly, of the three modes of persuasion President Lincoln used his first was ethos. Ethos, are used to convince the audience with the author’s reliability or ethics.

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In “The Gettysburg Address”,Abraham LIncoln implements alliteration, parallelism, and repetition throughout his writing to remember the men that died at Gettysburg, and to motivate the people of the United States to continue the work of the dead, and to give the dead meaning. In his speech, Abraham Lincoln utilizes alliteration, in his first sentence, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth”, he uses the same sound in “Four score”, “fathers”, and “forth”, he does this to reinforce the meaning, it unifies his ideas, and helps him introduce the topic he is going to talk about. He talks about what the country was founded on, which is equality.

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Gettysburg Speech In 2000 at Gettysburg, Coach Herman Boone presented his football team with a heartwarming, pathos speech about a historical war event to cause his players to fathom the importance of acting as a team. Coach Boone’s Gettysburg speech was a mesmeric allusion to President Lincoln’s famous dedication, and provoked a comparison between one of the hardest fought battles of the civil war and the need for teamwork. His morning practice speech is meant to inspire by arousing images, to appeal to their emotions, on the consecrated field of one of the most difficult times in American History. “Anybody know what this place is?”

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Lincoln makes a reference to our founding fathers at the start of his speech to remind his audience of how our nation started. Giving a description of the origin of our country depicts the purpose of America's existence. A place that was once united against one cause has become a place that is divided and against each other. Lincoln also states, "that all men are created equal" in the same area he mentions the founding fathers to position his opinion on

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The iconic first sentence of the speech states “ Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty” (Lincoln, # ). The event Lincoln is referring to in the

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