Ethos In The Gettysburg Address

Decent Essays
Aspen Watts Ms. Williams
Comp 1 07, November, 2016
Analysis Essay on The Gettysburg Address
The Gettysburg Address was a powerful speech, gave by the sixteenth president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863. The speech was given during the Civil War at the dedication of the Soldier’s National Cemetery in the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The speech was delivered to inform the audience that the survival of the Union depended on finishing the work the buried soldiers started and making a rebirth of freedom. The dedication of those who died on the battlefield of Gettysburg was made to show the importance of human equality and independent government that was written in the Declaration of Independence. The Gettysburg Address is a speech that moved and touched so many people by the use pathos, ethos, and logos that appeals to the world then and now.
Lincoln uses sympathy and dedication to the fallen soldiers to show that the citizens need to find a way to finish their unfinished work and remember that they fought so bravely for their country. He uses pathos in his speech to get the audience to feel remorse and to take it personally. “The world with 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
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He uses ethos to show the people that he is a person to be trusted and a man of his word. Lincoln starts by using the phrase “I trust” in the opening paragraph; he implies that he is wise enough to give his listeners credit for being wise and knowledgeable. Lincoln uses words such as “we and fellow countrymen” to show that he is equal to the citizens convincing them he is concerned for everyone. He then goes on explain his own goals as modest and reasonable: all the government sought to do, he claims, was to restrict the spread of slavery. (ethos

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