Gettysburg

After watching the clips from the movie Gettysburg what are your impressions about fighting/conditions during the war?

The Gettysburg Address Animated

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Primary Source Document

SOAP: “The Gettysburg Address”

The Gettysburg Address

The Gettysburg Address was a speech by Abraham Lincoln and one of the most quoted speeches in United States history. It was delivered at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, during the American Civil War, four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the decisive Battle of Gettysburg.

Abraham Lincoln's carefully crafted address, secondary to other presentations that day, came to be regarded as one of the greatest speeches in American history. In just over two minutes, Lincoln invoked the principles of human equality espoused by the Declaration of Independence and redefined the Civil War as a struggle not merely for the Union, but as "a new birth of freedom" that would bring true equality to all of its citizens, and that would also create a unified nation in which states' rights were no longer dominant.1

Four score2 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.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. 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. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate3 -- we can not 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 what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve4 that these dead shall not have died in vain -- 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.

1. Summary borrowed from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Address

2. Score: A measurement of time equaling two decades

3. Consecrate: To declare, or otherwise make something holy

4. Resolve: To reach a conclusion after a discussion or deliberation

Refresher on S.O.A.P

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Main Ideas

Why does Lincoln begin his eulogy to the soldiers buried at Gettysburg with a reference to "Four score and seven years ago"?

What does Lincoln mean by calling the Civil War a test of the ability of the nation to "long endure"?

What does Lincoln say is the best way for the living to honor the dead at Gettysburg?

What is "the unfinished work" or "great task remaining before" his audience, the American people?

What is "the cause" for which the soldiers buried at Gettysburg "gave the last full measure of devotion"?

What is "the new birth of freedom" Lincoln calls for, and how does it differ from the nation's original birth?

Critical Thinking

Count how often Lincoln uses the word "nation" in his Gettysburg Address. Why do you think he uses "nation" repeatedly, and not the word "union" at all? What might "nation" suggest or make clear that "union" does not?

Lincoln never mentions slavery in his Gettysburg Address. Why not? How is it implied in his remarks?