Rhetorical Devices In The Gettysburg Address

The Civil War was a major war within the United States that started in 1861; it was fought between the Confederate States of America and the Union because the Confederacy still believed that slavery should exist. The war went on for four years and over six hundred and twenty thousand soldiers were killed (American Civil War ). One of the most important battles fought during this war was the battle of Gettysburg; it lasted three days and went down in history as one of the most deadly battles of the war (Battle of Gettysburg ). After this battle, the president at the time, Abraham Lincoln, addressed his people with a speech, the Gettysburg Address, which still resonates though the people of our country today. Although the speech only roughly lasted two minutes, Lincoln used various devices that appealed to the people and caused them to agree with Lincoln’s opinion that all men should be treated equal, no matter their skin color or race. Out of the 271 words Lincoln said within his speech, He repeated two words, dedicated and nation, numerous times. Dedicated is to be committed to purpose; within the speech Lincoln describes the soldiers, living with “unfinished work” and dead who have devoted their lives to the war. Lincoln repeated this word over and over to get the point through everyone,
This line alone utilizes ethos because it makes people want to have a free country because it is what we, as a nation, are known for. In the introduction paragraph, Lincoln states “our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal”; this causes the people listening to reflect on how far our country has come with equality and how much further we still have to go till there is equality for everyone, not just white