Rhetorical Devices In Abraham Lincoln's Speech

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Rhetorical Essay How would you feel if your brothers and sisters were fighting against you in a war? If they were fighting and dying for what they believed in, and you thought differently, would you consider their death your fault? This is what some families had to go through during the civil war. The north and south were fighting over whether slavery was right or not. Abraham Lincoln’s speech “The Gettysburg Address” clarifies that every soldier’s death on the battlefield was the motivation they were still fighting against slavery for. Lincoln’s speech has many rhetorical devices. The one that really stuck out was pathos. When Lincoln stated “-that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish …show more content…

The statement from Lincoln “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on his continent a new nation, conceived Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal,” shows logos perfectly. This shows us when it was and why they were fighting. So, this would mean eighty-seven years ago that they declared that all men are created equal. This statement has an allusion in it. When Lincoln says, “all men are created equal,” that is from the constitution. This will help him convince the people to keep fighting because he is telling the people that if you are human you should treat others like you want to be treated. Ethos shows up in the “Gettysburg Address” also. When Lincoln makes the allusion “all men are created equal,” is ethos. Ethos is doing the right thing when it is not the popular thing to do. So, he is telling the audience that considering slaves, or black people, is the right thing to do, but it may not be the popular thing to do. This is persuading the audience because they are going to have to do things that might be different for them, but it will be the correct thing to