Perhaps every educated US citizen knows perfectly well what the Gettysburg speech is, what it is known for, when and by whom it was delivered. It is studied by both historians and experts in rhetoric, so it is useful for every reader to know at least a little about it.
Backstory
Let's start with what the current US President Abraham Lincoln said. It happened on November 19, 1863. Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was delivered at the opening of the Soldiers' Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
People who are at least a little interested in the history of the United States are well aware that in 1863 a civil war thundered in this country. It lasted from 1861 to 1865. However, the decisive battle took place precisely in 1863. Thanks to a serious numerical superiority (94 thousand against 72 thousand), the northerners managed to defeat the Confederation, whose soldiers fought for the exercise of their civil right to secede from the country (yes, such a clause is really present in the US Constitution).
This battle was the bloodiest inhistory of the civil war - in just three days, about 50 thousand people died, were seriously injured or went missing - a frightening number for that time. It was she who turned the tide of the war, giving a clear advantage to the northerners - after that, although the southerners fought valiantly and with frenzy, the end was a foregone conclusion.
After the battle, more than three months have passed and one of the most famous military cemeteries in the USA, Gettysburg, was opened not far from the battlefield. It was at its opening that Lincoln gave a speech that became one of the greatest in the history of the country.
Main content
The speech was very short - it contained only 272 words and took a little over two minutes to deliver. In contrast to the Massachusetts governor Edward Everett, who also spoke there, his speech took about two hours and had little substance. If you wish, you can easily find the text of Lincoln's Gettysburg speech in Russian.
In general, the US President mentioned the history of the creation of the country, and also thanked the soldiers of the North who fought, and many gave their lives so that the southern states (bringing most of the GDP) could not secede from the country. He also called on the living to continue the war with the Confederation, break it and return it to the United States.
A fine piece of rhetoric
In just two minutes, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address made a splash. While Everett's speech, which he had been preparing for two months, bored everyone present. Here's Lincolnin two minutes, he managed to instill pride in the hearts of everyone who heard him speak, as well as raise the patriotic spirit.
He managed to achieve all this thanks to his excellent knowledge of rhetoric.
He started with a short introduction:
Eighty-seven years have passed since our fathers founded a new nation on this continent.
Experts call this technique "tell a story". You need to tell people some fact that everyone already knows. However, it grabs the attention of the listeners and helps them fully engage with the speech.
Then he remarked:
The nation owes its birth to freedom and is convinced that all people are born equal.
That is, he expressed an idea with which each of his many listeners would unambiguously agree. Who doesn't want to be free and equal in the "land of opportunity"? At the same time, the level of critical thinking will decrease significantly and all subsequent words will become much easier to perceive.
Lincoln also skillfully and actively inserted the pronouns "we" and "our" into his speech. That is, he did not separate himself from ordinary soldiers who died on the battlefield (often under the leadership of inexperienced generals - the "greatest" General Ulysses Grant earned the nickname "The Butcher" among the military), so the listeners were imbued with even greater confidence in the speaker.
Finally, he used the call for "unpleasant", that is, the continuation of the war in whichmany more ordinary people will lay down their heads:
Let us solemnly swear that their death will not be in vain, that this God-given nation will find freedom reborn, and that the power of the people, by the will of the people and for the people, will not disappear from the face of the earth.
However, after preliminary psychological preparation, when the patriotic spirit of the soldiers was raised to the maximum, and critical thinking was noticeably reduced, his proposal was accepted with enthusiasm. No one could have thought of refusing to continue the war after the president himself delivered such an inspiring speech.
As you can see, many rhetoric techniques were used professionally and in a very time-limited speech. It is no coincidence that it is considered an excellent example of eloquence.
Speech memory
Speech delivered by Lincoln at the opening of the Gettysburg Cemetery has become another stroke that practically makes him related to the celestials in the eyes of many Americans. No wonder she has been quoted in many newspapers and speeches. She is not forgotten even today.
For example, in Washington, you can see the Abraham Lincoln Memorial. At its foot is a stone slab on which the full text of the speech is carved.
Conclusion
Now readers know not only about the speech itself, but also about its semantic load, the high rhetorical art of the author and a little more about the civil war - the bloodiest in US history.
