Gettysburg Address

President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address encapsulates a major historical irony -- although Lincoln in his brief dedicatory speech claimed that "the world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here," it is not hard to argue in 2013 that the Gettysburg Address has nevertheless become Lincoln's most noteworthy and memorable work. Indeed the Hollywood film "Lincoln" begins with the somewhat implausible scene of Union soldiers reciting the Gettysburg Address back to Lincoln a year and a half after he delivered it. But what makes the Gettysburg Address great? It is my contention that there are three separate elements to this brief piece of oratory which may be understood as constituting the basic foundation of the greatness of the Gettysburg Address. The first element is Lincoln's mastery of the basic techniques of English prose and oratory, which can be seen in even a cursory examination of the...
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