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The sound recording Background Script Political Importance Abraham Lincoln analyses Extra Information From July 1–3, 1863, more than 160,000 American soldiers clashed in the Battle of Gettysburg , in what would prove to be a turning point of the Civil War. The battle also had a major impact on the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, which numbered only 2,400 inhabitants. The battlefield contained the bodies of more than 7,500 dead soldiers and several thousand horses of the Army of the Potomac and the Confederacy’s Army of Northern Virginia, and the stench of rotting bodies in the humid July air was overpowering. Initially, the town planned to buy land for a cemetery and then ask the families of the dead to pay for their burial. However, David Wills, a wealthy 32-year-old attorney, objected to this idea and wrote to the Governor of Pennsylvania, suggesting instead a National Cemetery to be funded by the states. President Lincoln was invited to participate in the ceremony and there he delivered his famous speech -------The Gettysburg Address Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery. Before his election in 1860 as the first Republican president, Lincoln had been a country lawyer, an Illinois state legislator, a member of the United States House of Representatives, and twice an unsuccessful candidate for election to the U.S. Senate. As an outspoken opponent of the expansion of slavery in the United States,[1][2] Lincoln won the Republican Party nomination in 1860 and was elected president later that year. Six days after the largescale surrender of Confederate forces under General Robert E. Lee, Lincoln became the first American president to be assassinated. He is still regarded as one of the best presidents in the US history and a presentative of freedom and equality. He contributed a lot to the rapid development of America. By August 1863, the casualty lists from Civil War battles included a quarter of a million names. As a result, anti-war and anti-Lincoln sentiments grew in the North. Peace Democrats known as Copperheads were eager to oust Lincoln in the 1864 election in order to end the war through concessions to the Confederacy, and Lincoln's 1863 drafts were highly unpopular. Hatred for Lincoln's draft climaxed just ten days after the Battle of Gettysburg with the New York Draft Riots. In September 1863, Governor Curtin warned Lincoln that political sentiments were turning against the war effort. The following year the Presidential election would be held, and Lincoln was quite concerned that the Copperheads might prevail. Well into the summer of 1864, Lincoln remained convinced that the opposition would oust him. In the fall of 1863, one of Lincoln's principal concerns was to sustain the Union's spirits toward the war effort. That goal was the chief aim of Lincoln's Address at Gettysburg. Analysis Four score and seven years ago This is a biblical reference analogous to “three score year and ten” which was the "allotted span" of a human life. This nation has outlived the life of one human, but is still young...at the end of the speech we will see the rebirth, or regeneration of the country. our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all man are created equal. the preceding metaphors depict the founding of the nation in terms of a birth, with the framers of the constitution the fathers, and liberty the mother. This implies that the nation is alive...and a child, still growing and learning, and in need of protection. Thus, the further implication is that the secession of the southern states is tantamount to child murder! we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. Here, the religious terminology is fitting for the occasion, which is indeed a dedication/consecration; but it also identifies the deaths as a sacrifice (note the same root as sacred!) given to ensure the safety of the nation/child. 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 Also note the repetition with reversal above, the second phrase gaining strength from repetition and also from association of incremental proportions: (first) with unfinished work, (second) from great task -that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion Make a comparison by using “we take” and “they gave“ to show the great sacrifice and services the soldiers had rendered. Thus stimulating people to fight bravely. that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth. Parallel Sentence is used to create a powerful effect. The use of the three prepositions (of, by, for) is not only brief, but also precise to state the concept of an ideal government. This sentence also becomes a classical one and famous worldwide. Comment This speech has been called ‘‘ the treasure in the history of speech”, which renowned for its concise, precise and forceful. In no more than 300 words, Lincoln wrote an excellent speech which contains the four steps in the composition of an essay: opening, developing, changing and concluding. Sincere emotion and the stimulating words made this speech to be a brief and encoring epic poem, which will be remembered by generations.