Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) was the sixteenth president of the United States. Raised in frontier Kentucky and Indiana, he rose from rural poverty to become a lawyer, an Illinois state legislator, and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He also became one of America’s mythic figures. Elected to the White House in 1860 and again in 1864, Lincoln led the United States through the cataclysm of the Civil War and was assassinated in 1865. His 1863 Gettysburg Address, delivered at the dedication of the Soldier’s National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, is arguably the most famous speech in American history.
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.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field 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 live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—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 from the earth.
According to Lincoln, what is the obligation of “the living” (para. 3)? Explain this obligation in your own words.
Does the Gettysburg Address make an argument? If so, is it a deductive argument or an inductive argument? Explain.
Lincoln gave this speech at the dedication of a cemetery, yet he concedes that “in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground” (3). Is he undercutting his own implicit purpose here? How does this concession support his larger point?
What strategies does Lincoln use to support his position? Does he make an ethical argument? A cause-and-effect argument? Is this speech in any sense a proposal argument?
Consider Lincoln’s prose style—in particular, its rhythm and word choice. For example, is “Four score and seven years ago” (para. 1) the clearest, simplest phrasing he could have chosen? Rewrite this sentence—or any other sentence—in your own words. How does your version compare to Lincoln’s? What do you learn about Lincoln’s language—and his argument—when you try to paraphrase his speech?
In a well-known 1920 essay, the American critic H. L. Mencken lauded the Gettysburg Address as “eloquence brought to a pellucid and almost gem-like perfection—the highest emotion reduced to a few poetical phrases.” However, Mencken qualified his praise of Lincoln’s speech by saying, “But let us not forget that it is poetry, not logic; beauty, not sense.” He said of Lincoln’s main point: “It is difficult to imagine anything more untrue.” How do you respond to Mencken’s assessment? Do you find Lincoln’s argument “true” or “untrue”? Do you think the speech’s “eloquence,” “poetry,” and “beauty” undercut its “logic,” “sense,” and “truth”? Why or why not?