Gettysburg Address Thesis

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Gettysburg Address
(An Analysis on Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address)
Arguably, one of the most influential presidents in the history of the United States of America is President Lincoln. He knew how to fix contentious issues within the country, and remained composed in the face of the adversary. He once stated, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power” (Lincoln). And when given power, Lincoln proved that he was the right man in charge. Without him, America today could be very different. Slavery could still be alive today and abolitionist movements could still be circulating around the country. America would not have the same power that it does today. Luckily, Abraham Lincoln showed Americans how to face times of trial when he gave his famous Gettysburg Address. The …show more content…

During the Gettysburg Attack, thousands of people died, both sides of the Civil War getting slaughtered. If we were to not honor them, they would have died for nothing. In order to honor them, we must respect each other, and the laws being passed after the fact of the Civil War. This was was on a little piece of ground, yet so many lives were lost. “...that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave that last full measure of devotion” (539). In this statement, Lincoln explained that we must continue and finish the war in order to ensure that those that passed on did not die in vain. Dedicating Gettysburg guaranteed that there would forever be a memorial to honor those that passed on before. A Roman politician one expressed, “The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living” (Cicero). That quote was exactly the point that Lincoln was attempting to get across. The living were required to remember the dead to certify that their actions were not forgotten as America continued to

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