Gettysburg address analysis

I did not know that! Very interesting. Indeed, some things never go out of style. Thanks for the comment, Moshiur. I am not sure what you are asking. The Gettysburg Address is certainly a great speech. Whether it qualifies is literature is open to debate; however, it is unquestionably an eloquent and inspiring piece of writing. You are to be congratulated for your measured response.

Taking a quick look at both modern and archaic definitions, I think the Gettysburg Address does, probably clearly so, qualify as literature. Brevity can be the soul of both wit and literature. Especially, when it is written in granite. That suggests an enduring tome. You are a gentleman and, obviously, a very good and patient teacher. Nice to see some of your writing, again.

Even when it comes from being asked to prove that which you had not even raised. Thanks for the comment. I admire your abilities as a wordsmith. And, I take your point about the Gettysburg Address qualifying as literature. If a poem of a few stanzas can qualify as literature, I see no reason why an eloquent speech cannot so qualify as well.

History has it that Lincoln did not go further than the 2nd grade in school; so what does that say about the billions we spend on education today, when probably none could write a better speech? Extremely useful, John! Your readers here might also like this analysis of a TEDx talk on body languagewhich I published recently. Thank you for the comment.

Good luck with your classes! Americans choose their representatives from among themselves. John do you know when you wrote this blog because I need it to cite your blog. VERY useful info, thanks. Glad you found the information useful. I wrote the post on 19 November You can find the date for any post that I wrote by clicking on the URL. WordPress always has the date of publication in the full URL.

Thank you for your analysis of Lincoln speech. It was extremely helpful for me to do my class work. This has been very helpful. Good luck with your project. Please come back and leave another comment with the link so that readers and I can check it out. Sounds like a worthy read. Plus all these helpful points on presenting speeches will definitely come in handy down the road.

This is why I love checking the comment sections of articles with interesting topics. Intriguing, perhaps? Well, anyway… Well done, sir! Great job! It was worth the lost time. Hi Sasha. Thanks for the great comment. I love the stream-of-consciousness flow to it and I am glad that you found the post helpful. I agree with you about finding interesting ideas and information in the comments.

Thanks so much, Rashid. The post on the Gettysburg Address, which I wrote years ago, is still my No. On an average week, it will be No. I often get messages from students in high school and college saying how it helped them with an assignment. I will read your post with interest. I have seen the montage of different speakers before.

But it is very good. As for the memory palace, we should talk about memory techniques some time. I have been using one for years to remember lists but also to remember parts of a speech. Thanks John. Interesting to note that this is your most popular post. But not surprising. Again, your analysis is superb, your articulation outstanding.

Will be happy to talk about memory techniques some time. Side note. I have a 45 minutes private video of an education session where I got the whole audience to memorize the speech. Even though I had to demand a lot from my audience, the talk was generally well received. It is a very poor quality video made only for my reviewbut if you like, I can try to get it to you via Dropbox or Google drive, or a private YT link etc.

If it is less than 2GB, you can send it to me for free using We Transfer www. Just upload the file and send it to john. I use We Transfer all the time. And yes, when my schedule eases up, I will look into possible dates to speak about memory techniques. Thank you, Dan. I have been so busy with work of late that I have not been on the blog that much.

This will change and yes, I will always respond to people who take the time to comment. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. He was informative, engaging and inspirational. Everyone was motivated to improve their public speaking skills. Following his keynote, John has led public speaking workshops for Gore in Barcelona and Munich.

He is an outstanding speaker who thinks carefully about the needs of his audience well before he steps on stage. John helped me to sharpen the presentation and get on point faster, making the talk more focused and impactful. My speech was very well received, has since reached almost 1. John is one of the greatest speakers I know and I can recommend his services without reservation.

After a morning of team building activities using improvisation as the conduit, John came on stage to close the staff event which was organised in Chamonix, France. His gettysburg address analysis and presence were immediately felt by all the members of staff. The work put into the preparation of his speech was evident and by sharing some his own stories, he was able to conduct a closing inspirational speech which was relevant, powerful and impactful for all at IRU.

The whole team left feeling engaged and motivated to tackle the objectives ahead. Thank you, John. I was expecting a few speaking tips and tricks and a few fun exercises, but you went above and beyond — and sideways. You taught me to stand tall. You taught me to anchor myself. You taught me to breathe. You taught me to open up. You taught me to look people in the eye.

You taught me to tell the truth. I got more than I bargained for in the best possible way. John gave a brilliant presentation on public speaking during the UN EMERGE programme in Geneva a two days workshop on leadership development for a group of female staff members working in the UN organizations in Geneva. His talk was inspirational and practical, thanks to the many techniques and tips he shared with the audience.

His teaching can dramatically change our public speaking performance and enable us as presenters to have a real and powerful impact. Thank you, John, for your great contribution! John is a genuine communication innovator. His seminars on gamification of public speaking learning and his interactive Rhetoric game at our conference set the tone for change and improvement in our organisation.

The quality of his input, the impact he made with his audience and his effortlessly engaging style made it easy to get on board with his core messages and won over some delegates who were extremely skeptical as to the efficacy of games for learning. I simply cannot recommend him highly enough. The session surprised everybody and was a fresh-air activity that brought a lot of self-reflection and insights to improve trust and confidence in each other inside our team.

Thank you very much for the excellent presentation skills session. The feedback I received was very positive. Everyone enjoyed the good mix of listening to your speech, co-developing a concrete take-away and the personal learning experience. We all feel more devoted to the task ahead, more able to succeed and an elevated team spirit. When trying to persuade your audience, one of the strongest techniques you can use is to anchor your arguments to statements which your audience believes in.

Lincoln does this twice in his first sentence:. Four score and gettysburg address analysis 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. Among the beliefs which his audience held, perhaps none were stronger than those put forth in the Bible and Declaration of Independence.

Lincoln knew this, of course, and included references to both of these documents. So, the verse is stating that a human life is about 70 years. That document contains the following famous line:. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equalthat they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

By referencing both the Bible and the Declaration of Independence, Lincoln is signalling that if his audience trusts the words in those documents they did! How can you use this lesson? When trying to persuade your audience, seek out principles on which you agree and beliefs which you share. Anchor your arguments from that solid foundation. Lincoln employed simple techniques which transformed his words from bland to poetic.

A few well-crafted phrases often serve as memorable sound bites, giving your words an extended life. A word-by-word analysis of the Gettysburg Address reveals the following words are repeated:. By repetitive use of these words, he drills his central point home: Like the men who died herewe must dedicate ourselves to save our nation. Determine the words which most clearly capture your central argument.

Repeat them throughout your speech, particularly in your conclusion and in conjunction with other rhetorical devices. Use these words in your marketing materials, speech title, speech introduction, and slides as well. The Gettysburg Address employs a simple and straightforward three part speech outline : past, present, future. When organizing your content, one of the best approaches is one of the simplest.

Go chronological. The hallmark of a persuasive speech is a clear call-to-action. Clearly state the actions that, if taken, will lead your audience to success and prosperity. This article is one of a series of speech critiques of inspiring speakers featured on Six Minutes. Subscribe to Six Minutes for free to receive future speech critiques. Hi Andrew, Wonderful insights and tools about how speakers can have an effective profound impact on their listeners.

I always like reading your entries. Thank you for this. I will use this and the other speech critiques with my clients. I just finished reading The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs just a week before his death… we can learn so much from these great presenters. A popular explanation for the Bachrach photo suggests that Lincoln's brief address, which followed a lengthy speech by Everett, caught photographers by surprise.

As a result, they supposedly could only take a photo of Lincoln after the speech had ended. This theory has been questioned, however, with evidence suggesting that the photo was possibly taken before the Gettysburg Address and without any intention to capture the President from such a long distance. The words "under God" do not appear in the Nicolay and Hay drafts but are included in the three later copies Everett, Bancroft, and Bliss.

Accordingly, some skeptics maintain that Lincoln did not utter the words "under God" at Gettysburg. Historian William E. Barton argues that: [ 84 ]. Every stenographic report, good, bad and indifferent, says 'that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom. It will not do to say that [Secretary of War] Stanton suggested those words after Lincoln's return to Washington, for the words were telegraphed by at least three reporters on the afternoon of the delivery.

His associates confirmed his testimony, which was received, as it deserved to be, at its face value. Ronald C. White, visiting professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles and professor of American religious history emeritus at the San Francisco Theological Seminary, wrote in this context of Lincoln's insertion and usage of "under God":.

It was an uncharacteristically spontaneous revision for a speaker who did not trust extemporaneous speech. Lincoln had added impromptu words in several earlier speeches, but always offered a subsequent apology for the change. In this instance, he did not. And Lincoln included "under God" in all three copies of the address he prepared at later dates.

Lincoln had come to see the Civil War as a ritual of purification. The old Union had to die. The old man had to die. Death became a transition to a new Union and a new humanity. The phrase "under God" was used frequently in works published beforeusually with the meaning "with God's help". Nearby, Nov. Lincoln was not one of them, and a small metal sign near the speech memorial stirs controversy by stating:.

The Address was delivered about yards from this spot along the upper Cemetery drive. The site is now marked by the Soldiers' National Monument. Holding title as the Traditional Site, the validity of the Soldiers' National Monument has been challenged by platform occupants in the distant past and by relatively recent photographic analyses.

The observer of this newer marker stands facing the fence which separates the two adjacent cemeteries one public and one private. Another heavy endorsement of the Traditional Site, this one in bronze and placed by Lincoln's native Commonwealth, stands nearby. Absent an original and enduring marker, the location of the platform is in the hands of rhetoricians and scholars.

The Superintendent of Evergreen Cemetery, Brian Kennell, emphatically endorses the findings of William Frassanito's photographic analysis. Colonel W. Yates Selleck was a marshal in the parade on Consecration Day and was seated on the platform when Lincoln made the address. As pointed out in by retired park historian Frederick Tilberg, the Selleck Site is 25 feet 7.

A spectacular view from the location of the speech was noted by many eyewitnesses, is consistent with the Traditional Site at the Soldiers' National Monument and other sites on the crest but is inconsistent with the Selleck Site. The Kentucky Memorialerected inis directly adjacent to the Soldiers' National Monumentand states, "Kentucky honors her son, Abraham Lincoln, who delivered his immortal address at the site now marked by the soldiers' monument.

Writing a physical description of the layout for the Gettysburg National Cemetery under construction in Novemberthe correspondent from the Cincinnati Daily Commercial described the dividing lines between the state grave plots as "the radii of a common center, where a flag pole is now raised, but where it is proposed to erect a national monument".

In fact, the precision of the photo-analyses relies upon the coincidence of position between this temporary flag pole and the future monument. Confusing to today's tourist, the Kentucky Memorial is contradicted by a newer marker which was erected nearby by the Gettysburg National Military Park and locates the speakers' platform inside Evergreen Cemetery.

InSenior Park Historian Kathleen Georg Harrison first analyzed photographs and proposed a location in Evergreen Cemetery but has not published her analysis. Speaking for Harrison without revealing details, two sources characterize her proposed location as "on or near [the] Brown family vault" in Evergreen Cemetery. William A. Frassanito, a former military intelligence analyst, documented a comprehensive photographic analysis inand it associates the location of the platform with the position of specific modern headstones in Evergreen Cemetery.

Kitzmiller d. Over the course of many years, an assistant professor of New Media at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, Christopher Oakley, and his students have labored to produce and relentlessly perfect "a lifelike virtual 3-D re-creation of Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg Address" as part of the Virtual Lincoln Project. As a starting point, the project modeled the topography around Cemetery Hill, the Gatehouse at Evergreen Cemetery and the documented positions of nonextant objects which appear in photographs the poplar tree, the flag pole and the Duttera House among them using 3-D animation software Maya.

Next, the platform and its occupants were modeled. Finally, the approximate positions of the cameras were placed into the 3-D environment, and the overall model was iteratively refined. By reproducing the appearance of the gettysburg address analysis known photographs, taken distantly from one another inLincoln and the platform have been placed in virtual reality.

Oakley's model shows the platform straddling the iron fence between the Soldiers' National Cemetery and Evergreen Cemetery. It increases the size of the platform and changes its shape from rectangular, as previous researchers have maintained, to trapezoidal. Most significantly, the speaker's position occupies a portion of the platform over the grounds of the Soldiers' National Cemetery.

William Frassanito's analysis is based upon two of the four photographic perspectives which were employed by Oakley to validate his 3D model. Frassanito assesses one of his sources by stating, "This view [by Weaver] was probably not taken from the second-story window of the gatehouse itself. Richter may have identified a photographer with a camera in this exact window, thereby weakening the contribution of the Weaver photograph to Frassanito's conclusions.

The GNMP marker, Wills's interpretation of Harrison's analysis, the Frassanito analysis, and the Oakley analysis concur that the platform was located entirely or mostly in private Evergreen Cemeteryrather than public Soldiers' National Cemetery. The Soldiers' National Monument, long misidentified as the spot from which Lincoln spoke, honors the fallen soldiers.

Frassanito has documented 1 his own conclusion, 2 his own methods and 3 a refutation of the Harrison site, [ ] but neither the GNMP nor Harrison has provided any documentation. Oakley's interpretation was only made public in and is still under review. Although Lincoln dedicated the Gettysburg National Cemetery, the monument at the Cemetery's center actually has nothing to do with Lincoln or his famous speech.

Intended to symbolize Columbia paying tribute to her fallen sons, its appreciation has been commandeered by the thirst for a tidy home for the speech. The importance of the Gettysburg Address in the history of the United States is underscored by its enduring presence in American culture. In addition to its prominent place carved into a stone cella on the south wall of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.

In the many generations that have passed since the Address, it has remained among the most famous speeches in American history [ ] and is often taught in classes about history or civics. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice.

Gettysburg address analysis

Phrases from the Address are often used or referenced in other works. The current Constitution of France states that the principle of the French Republic is " gouvernement du peuple, par le peuple et pour le peuple " "government of the people, by the people, and for the people"a literal translation of Lincoln's words. Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts wrote of the address and its enduring presence in American culture after Lincoln's assassination in April "That speech, uttered at the field of Gettysburg In the modesty of his nature he said 'the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here; but it can never forget what they did here.

The world at once noted what he said, and will never cease to remember it. In January John F. Kennedy tasked his speech writer Ted Sorensen to study the Gettysburg Address in order to help him with his own inaugural address. Sorensen drew many lessons from the Gettysburg Address which according to Sorensen included rhetoric devices used by many speech writers like alliterationsrhymesrepetitions as well as contrast and balance.

President John F. Kennedy stated in July about the battle and Lincoln's speech: "Five score years ago the ground on which we here stand shuddered under the clash of arms and was consecrated for all time by the blood of American manhood. Abraham Lincoln, in dedicating this great battlefield, has expressed, in words too eloquent for paraphrase or summary, why this sacrifice was necessary.

The work challenges leaders to craft word responses to celebrate Lincoln, the Gettysburg Address, or a related topic. A common American myth about the Gettysburg Address is that Lincoln quickly wrote the speech on the back of an envelope while on the train. Other lesser-known claims include Harriet Beecher Stowe 's assertion that Lincoln had composed the address "in only a few moments", and that of industrialist Andrew Carnegiewho claimed to have personally supplied Lincoln with a pen.

A Lincoln Portrait is a classical orchestral work written by the American composer Aaron Copland in which the closing phrases of the Gettysburg address are intoned at the conclusion of the narrated Lincoln quotations which lead to the orchestral closing crescendo. The work involves a full orchestra, with particular emphasis on the brass section at climactic moments.

The work is narrated with the reading of excerpts of Abraham Lincoln's great documents, including the Gettysburg Address. The intoned reading from the Address uses only the last two sentences starting with the words, "That from these honored dead Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read View source View history. Tools Tools.

Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikisource Wikidata item. President Abraham Lincoln. One of only two confirmed photos of Lincoln seated in center facing camera at Gettysburg [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] taken about noon on November 19, ; Lincoln spoke some three hours later. To Lincoln's right is Ward Hill Lamonhis bodyguard.

This article is part of a series about. Early life and career Family Health Sexuality Patent. First term. Second term. Presidential elections. Speeches and works. Assassination and legacy. Program and Everett's "Gettysburg Oration". Gettysburg Address Read by Britton Rea [ a ]. Audio Problems playing this file? See media help. Lincoln's sources. Contemporary sources and reaction.

Usage of "under God". Pennsylvania Historical Marker. The Library of Congress. Retrieved from internet archive version on Cornell University Library. Retrieved on Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. Fox News. September 24, Archived from the original on September 25, Retrieved September 25, Archived from the original on September 28, Retrieved October 3, Archived from the original on September 29, New York: Oxford University Press.

ISBN Paul Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Retrieved June 2, Archived from the original on December 6, Retrieved February 22, Retrieved August 21, The New York Times. Retrieved November 20, Dobbin House Inc. Archived from the original on October 24, Retrieved November 30, Lincoln at Gettysburg. Journal of Medical Biography. PMID S2CID Long Road to Gettysburg.

Houghton Mifflin Company. Archived from the original on July 7, Retrieved December 10, Edward Everett: Unionist Orator. Volume 7. Lee's army. Thus, Lincoln saw the Civil War as a severe test of whether or not self-government "so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. At the outset, Lincoln prosecuted the war only to preserve the Union, but abolitionists hoped the war would free the slaves.

As commander-in-chief, Lincoln waited until emancipation became "a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion" before issuing the liberating decree on January 1, This made the Year of Jubilee, with freedom proclaimed to slaves throughout the rebellious sections of the country. Emancipation thus became the backdrop for Lincoln's Gettysburg Address later that year.

With Emancipation declared for the vast majority of American slaves, Lincoln asked Americans to see that the fight to defend the Constitution and Union had become, as well, a fight to defend the freedom of the former slaves of the rebel states. Given the controversy about the Emancipation Proclamation, even gettysburg address analysis the North, Lincoln did not spell out in detail that a successful war for union had to be a war for emancipation; his Gettysburg Address, therefore, never mentions the Emancipation Proclamation or slavery.

Nevertheless, he also never uses the word "union," choosing instead to speak of a "nation" dedicated to liberty at its birth, a "nation" tested for that belief, and hence a "nation" he hopes will experience a "new birth of freedom. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope gettysburg address analysis earth. In his Address to Congress in Special Session July 4,Lincoln said the attempt of certain states to secede raised profound questions for America: "Is there, in all republics, this inherent, and fatal weakness?

It presents to the whole family of man, the question, whether a constitutional republic, or a democracy—a government of the people, by the same people—can, or cannot, maintain its territorial integrity, against its own domestic foes. To "save the union" was to save what Lincoln called "the last best hope of earth," for the union's survival entailed the survival of the Constitution and the rule of law from the anarchic principle of secession, what Lincoln called "rebellion sugar-coated.

Thus Lincoln turned a cemetery dedication into a dedication of the living to a certain course of action: "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. Ironically, Lincoln does so by depreciating the value of words in the face of deeds: "The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

Words do make a difference, and in a way that belies a superficial reading of Lincoln's confession of an orator's "poor power to add or detract. Not everyone was enthralled with Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, even in the North. The Chicago Timesa Democratic newspaper and longtime critic of Lincoln, thought he exploited the cemetery dedication for political purposes.

In an editorial written a few days after the Gettysburg ceremony, the Times argued that Union soldiers fought only to defend the Constitution and Union against rebellious citizens, and not, as Lincoln asserted, to inaugurate "a new birth of freedom" for blacks as well as whites. Most northern, Democratic newspapers simply ignored the president's brief remarks or joined the Chicago Times in criticizing Lincoln for his partisanship and for siding with the "negro" as the equal of whites.

The goal of this lesson is for students to decide if Lincoln can answer the criticism of a Chicago Times editorial, which claimed that his Gettysburg Address misrepresented the purpose of the Civil War and the cause for which Union soldiers had died. Students will evaluate primary source documents, analyze the claims that are made in each, and then decide how well Lincoln can answer the charges made against him.

Have students read Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address to gain context for the criticism that follows. The Gettysburg Address is also included in the Text Document on page 1and can be printed out for student use. Later in the lesson, students will answer questions about the address, available in worksheet form on pages of the Text Document.

After students have read the Gettysburg Address, divide the class into groups of gettysburg address analysis or four for collaborative work on the following documents and accompanying questions. The document analysis begins with a November 23rd editorial in the Chicago Timesa Democratic newspaper long critical of Abraham Lincoln. This editorial was published a few days after Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address and excoriated Lincoln for his interpretation of the war.

Have students read the Times editorial to gain perspective and ideas to interrogate Lincoln on his purposes for his Gettysburg eulogy. The relevant excerpt is also included in the Text Document on pagesand can be printed out for student use. While in their groups, have students work together on the answers to the following questions, which are also available in worksheet form on page 4 of the Text Document :.

After answering the questions, instruct the students in each group to collaborate in writing a paragraph summarizing the criticisms leveled against Lincoln's Gettysburg Address by the writer of the editorial. They should refer to the worksheet questions and their answers in writing the paragraph. Then have the group synthesize the criticisms into two or three questions which they will use to interrogate Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address.

If students need help with this exercise, guide them through the process of turning a criticism into a question. For example, the Chicago Times editorial interprets the Constitution not as presuming the equality of men but rather the preservation of slavery, so the following question for Lincoln could be constructed: How can Lincoln say that our forefathers dedicated this nation to "the proposition that all men are created equal" when the Constitution assumes the inequality of men by permitting and safeguarding slavery?

After they have framed two or three questions, tell students to put the questions aside for use later in the lesson.