Rhetorical Analysis of The Gettysburg Address Essay

United States president, Abraham Lincoln, in his speech, “Second Inaugural Address” (March 4, 1865), addresses the conflict of the civil war. Lincoln believes that the war begun due to slavery and that it does not have to conquered by fighting fire with fire. He supports his claim by first addressing the opposing views of the war. He then states how both sides searched for a way around the conflict. Finally he speaks about what proposes shall be done during that time of war. His purpose is to address the conflict that risen and caused the civil war, how it will be dealt with and inform the citizens of the United States of his proposition. He adopts a solemn tone as he portrays his message throughout the majority of the passage and transitions into a more shocked tone as he speaks of how other are dealing with the ordeal as if to say, “Can you believe the way we’re behaving?”

The Civil War marked a huge milestone in the history of our nation and the documents and speeches that were made around this time had a large impact on it all as well. One big speech that was given during that time was the Emancipation Proclamation. It was a speech that helped free the African American slaves of our country. President Lincoln gave the speech in the midst of the war. The Civil War was one of the biggest challenges that our nation faced. President Lincoln uses repetition and pathos to help convey his message about slavery.

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

While the Gettysburg Address is fairly short in length at around 300 words, this famous speech delivered by President Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1963 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania is 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 the country to focus on preserving this

In 1864, the country was divided due to the Civil War. Both sides had experienced great losses, and many were starting to lose hope. To this day, the Civil War remains the bloodiest war in U.S. history. 1864 was also the same year Abraham Lincoln was reelected for President of the United States. When Lincoln got up to make his second inaugural address, he claimed that because he had done this before, he wasn’t going to use all of the formalities that are often used in inauguration speeches. Instead, he focused mostly on trying to give the people-specifically, the north-hope during this terrible time. In Lincoln’s address, he attempts to give people hope and reunite the country via his use of tone, ethos, logos, and pathos.

One rhetorical strategy that Lincoln uses in his speech is repetition. An example of this is when he says, “All dreaded it, all sought to avert it.” By using “all” twice, Lincoln groups the whole American public, those sided with either the North or the South, together to evoke a sense of unity and association. No matter what side of this divide the people are on, they can relate to the idea that they did not intend for the war to happen. Another example of this is the repeated use of the words “neither,” “both,” and “each” in the third paragraph. He includes these frequently to highlight the similarities in the relationship between the North and South. In doing so, Lincoln remains neutral as to which side is to blame and is able to gain support from people on both sides of the conflict. Through his effective use of repetition, President Lincoln prompts the American people to strive for peace and unity.

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

In the Second Inaugural Address, Lincoln demonstrated that his point was to unify the nation. Because the North and South were so belligerent to each other, the nation split apart, causing the Civil War. As a result, it was Lincoln’s aim to unite and strengthen his divided nation. Lincoln knew and reflected on the hardships both parties endured and called upon the nation to leave behind their bitterness and resentment. Then, he ordered the North and South to come together as one nation and treat each other “with malice toward

Lincoln first executes his address by reframing why the war happened and what the people need to do to prevent the war from reoccuring. First, he [characterizes] the slaves as “peculiar and powerful interests,” (Lincoln 31) to appeal to the slave owners’ emotions of seeing slaves as property, gaining his trust. After having the owners feel understood about their ownership, he decharacterizes them by saying that “this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union” (Lincoln 22-25). Lincoln blames the separation and tension within the Union on the slave owners by calling them insurgents and seeing their slaves as property and not humans in order to have them want to stop wars by the toll on the nation’s unity when having slaves. By reframing the cause

During Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, which he presented on November 19, 1863, he displayed a couple very distinct tones. He was successfully able to portray a praising and an informative tone with the words he so carefully wrote and delivered to the public. These tones were shown by his diction within the address, along with specific words and phrases. His diction demonstrated his informative tone by using words like “we”, “ours”, and “us”, a combined 15 times throughout the address. This shows his uniting of the audience while he informs them of what they need to do to in order for the new nation to succeed and thrive.

In his Gettysburg Address, Lincoln uses imagery and diction to promote the reunification and pertinacity of the United States amid great turmoil, by attributing living characteristics to the nation. Throughout the speech he alludes to life, noting the foundations upon which America was “conceived,” how it may “have a new birth,” and “not perish.” By personifying America, Lincoln is able to portray a country unified in fate, that would otherwise suffer disaffiliation. He uses vivid phrasing aiming to evoke an emotional response, honoring the dead and calling the living “to be… dedicated to the great task remaining before [them.]” The task Lincoln is referring to is “that [the] nation might live,” bolstering his strong imagery and continuing

While addressing a country healing from a 4 year civil war Abraham Lincoln gives a unique second inaugural address containing various rhetorical appeals. Hoping to ease tension between the North and the South, Lincoln expresses his thoughts and ideas about the war and the nation's future through strong rhetoric. This short but significant speech obtains strong appeals towards parallelism, tone, and ethos. The shocked American people were content and surprised with Lincoln’s speech for it was nothing but unusual.

Rhetorical Devices Used in the Gettysburg Address With a speech so short, the Gettysburg Address is one of the greatest and memorable speech’s in history? Lincoln’s speech consisted of only 276 words and lasted no longer than four minutes. Many rhetorical devices were used in the Gettysburg Address such as, ethos, pathos, and logos. The use of these devices not only, successfully resulted in an emotional response from the audience; But, Lincoln also persuaded his audience to look at the Battle of Gettysburg in a different perspective.

In Lincoln’s second inaugural address he brings the two sides of the war together to assess the country’s situation. Lincoln had been against slavery, he planned on banning it in the US territories while running for president and the Southern states viewed this as a violation of their constitutional rights. Once he was elected as president, he took action in fighting for the cause. Years of tension and conflict between the North and South had finally broken into a war which lasted four years. The civil war came to an end once the confederate side surrendered. In Lincoln’s speech he presents himself as a worn out victor. Although he and the union had won against the confederacy, Lincoln had felt a great sorrow for the country’s loss.

In Lincoln’s 1865 Second Inaugural Address, Lincoln persuades his vision for a peaceful future and guidance by providing logical statements and emotion filled in his heart. Lincoln was known for his logic (i.e. Lincoln was the sixteenth President of the United States.) Lincoln was very logical throughout his rather short speech. Which in itself the nation had expected of Lincoln a much longer speech on “politics, slavery and states’ rights.” But as a man with the weight of the nation at war, he weaved his passion to regard “the effects of the Civil War.”