Central Idea/The Gettysburg Addres

What is the author’s main purpose in writing the speech? (The Gettysburg Address)

• To honor the dead and dedicate the cemetery at Gettysburg
• To dedicate the opening of Gettysburg National Park
• To inform the audience of the construction of a Gettysburg shoe factory
• To free slaves living in rebelling states

What does the word consecrate means as used in the speech?

• To induct into an organization
• To make or declare sacred
• To claim the land as a National Park
• To establish zoning for tax purposes

Which sentence best supports Lincoln’s purpose for writing the speech?

• “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 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.”
•  “. . . that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
• “The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.”

Read the sentence from the speech.
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation . . .”
What does President Lincoln mean by this statement?

• That the continent was first settled by Europeans
• That democracy was created by the Founding Fathers
• The Founding Fathers formed the United States of America in 1776
• The Founding Fathers formed the United States of American in 1789

How does Lincoln’s use of historical reference influence the meaning of the passage?

• Suggests that the United States is a nation in its infancy
• Suggests that the United States was a nation created through slavery
• Suggests that the United States was created as a nation of equality
• Suggests that the confederacy created by the Articles of Confederation should have remained 

Which word best describes the emotions evoked by Lincoln’s speech?

• Vengeance
• Hopelessness
• Frustration
• Reverence

Central Ideas: In most cases, the author directly states the central idea near the ending of the text.

• True
• False

In other cases, the central idea is implied by the points the author makes.

• True
• False

Each paragraph in nonfiction develops its own ____________.

• main idea
• topic sentence
• theme
• paragraph

This main idea is used to support the main idea of the ________.

• topic sentence
• paragraph
• essay
• whole text