How effectively does Lincoln use rhetorical techniques to gain the attention and support of his audience?
The battle of Gettysburg speech that Lincoln made on the 19th of November, 1863, was one that shocked the audience listening. The crowd of about fifteen to twenty thousand people that assembled at the Gettysburg cemetery to mourn and honour the thousands of soldiers that had been killed in the Battle of Gettysburg. After the crowed had been standing for four hours, becoming restless, Lincolns speech of 10 sentences and 272 words, taking only 2 minutes, most of the crowd were shocked. Had Lincoln already finished?
Lincoln starts off his speech with "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the preposition that all men are equal." "Four score and seven years ago" describes how the America had won freedom from Britain.
Gettysburg Address Lincoln Speech Memorial
Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg (seated, center). Wa...
English: TrueScans Image of Abe Lincoln's "Gettysb..."All men are created equal," Lincoln references Thomas Jefferson's words in the declaration of freedom. Using this first paragraph, Lincoln reminds the crowd how America was founded, through liberty and equality.
Lincoln continues with his second paragraph: "Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure." Lincoln's constant use of 'we' throughout the whole speech signifies that Lincoln doesn't want the crowd to see him as someone more important but the same as the next man; that all men are created equal.
Lincolns finishes his with "But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember...