Rhetorical Analysis Of The Gettysburg Address

The “Gettysburg Address,” by Abraham Lincoln is considered one of the most renowned speeches of all time delivered by one of the most prominent presidents the United States has ever had. The address reminds me of the Declaration of Independence. In fact, it’s the focal point of the “Gettysburg Address.” Just consider the opening statement, “Four score and seven years ago…” (a score is twenty years) The “Gettysburg Address” was written in eighteen sixty-three, four score and seven years ago is eighty-seven years which takes you back to seventeen seventy-six, the year the Declaration of Independence was written. Lincoln also refers back to all men being created equal throughout his address and remarks, “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom,” Lincoln is alluding to the abolition of slavery. I especially love

this unique address from Lincoln because of these similarities and the fact that he’s fighting to save the life of a great nation produced by the Declaration of Independence. Lincoln does a phenomenal job of citing a document defending the thirteen colonies’ independence from England to defend the Union’s suppression of the Confederacy’s efforts for its own Independence.

He’s promoting that the colonial secession was inspired by a devotion to liberty and equality. Southern Independence is being opposed for that same very reason and he does an incredible job of utilizing the words of Thomas Jefferson to make it clear. I discovered how majestic Lincoln’s use of literary/rhetorical devices was and his use of the English language through imagery. He uses repetition or anaphora to emphasize the points he made not in lack of vocabulary. The use of allusion is substantially dependent on the Declaration of Independence as I talked about before, but he also refers back to the Bible as well. As Lincoln transpires toward the end of his speech he calls the people of America to action. He’s asking them to fulfill the Declaration of Independence’s mission through the Gettysburg address. He uses the term "new birth of freedom," as a metaphor referring to the nation’s founding fathers basically “giving birth to the

nation”. He uses this metaphor throughout his speech as a form of repetition. In the speech Lincoln said, “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.” Euphemism is being utilized when he calls the cemetery a “final resting place,” he’s referring to the battlefield after the Battle of Gettysburg, and how it had the complete opposite look from a cemetery. Over seven thousand dead men and five thousand dead horses/mules were left on that field for the vultures to get. He uses contrast as well in the same line when he says some died, so that others and the entire nation can live. I’m very impressed with Lincoln’s writing and his unique use of the English language and his special way of contributing the Declaration of Independence into his “Gettysburg Address.” It will always be remarked as one of the most prominent speeches in United States History.