Gettysburg Address Analysis

Read this sentence from the beginning of the speech:

"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."

From the way the sentence is constructed, the reader can determine that Lincoln used the word "fathers" to mean...

• the ancestors of the audience listening to his speech

• the people who created the government of the United States of America

Read this sentence from the beginning of the speech:

"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."

Which choice BEST describes what role this sentence serves in Lincoln's speech?

• This sentence reminds the audience of how old the country is.

• This sentence reminds the audience why the country was created.

Which TWO choices provide the MOST accurate description of what Lincoln accomplishes in his second paragraph?

• He contrasts the sorrow of the present day with the glory of the nation's past.

• He questions what words are really worth on a day when great action is needed.

• He explains why he was making a speech at that particular place on that particular day.

• He argues that the civil war is a test of whether the founding fathers' ideals could last.

Fill in the blank with the set of words that BEST completes the sentence:

A central idea of the text is that Lincoln is giving the speech to dedicate a battleground to the men who died fighting there, but ________________

• any words he speaks cannot sufficiently honor those who died defending their nation

• nobody is going to remember the words he spoke that day

By repeating the words "dedicated" and "dedicate", Lincoln makes connections between which TWO ideas

• The United States being dedicated to the idea that all men are created equal.

• The speech being dedication to the founding fathers of the country.

• The site of the battle being dedicated to the soldiers who died there.

Which TWO statements argue that words are not as meaningful as actions?

• “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.” (2)

• “The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.” (3)

• “The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.” (3)