The Gettysburg Address
Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, given November 19, 1863 on the battlefield near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA

1 Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

2 Now we are engaged in a great civil war ... testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated ... can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war.

3 We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that this nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

4 But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate ... we cannot consecrate ... we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

5 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 ... that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion ... that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain ... that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom ... and that government of the people ... by the people ... for the people ... shall not perish from this earth.

Read the passage on the left to answer the following questions:

8)
Which of these contains word choices suggesting a bias?
A) "...our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation..."
B) "...work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced."
C) "The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here,..."
D) "We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place..."
9)
What can the reader (or listener) infer that Lincoln wants America's response to the deaths at the Battle of Gettysburg to be?
A) Lincoln wants America to move on and forget the men who died.
B) Lincoln wants to set up a memorial plaque to remember the men who died here.
C) Lincoln wants America to be ashamed of all the loss of life on this battlefield.
D) Lincoln wants America to remember these men and continue to fight for their cause until victory.
10)
Now we are engaged in a great civil war ... testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated ... can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war.
What inference can you make regarding Lincoln's use of the word great in this sentence?
A) Lincoln thinks the civil war will last long.
B) Lincoln thinks the civil war will be larger in size than other wars.
C) Lincoln thinks the civil war effort will involve men of superior quality.
D) Lincoln thinks the civil war will be of outstanding significance or importance.
11)
Which statement BEST summarizes this speech?
A) President Lincoln delivers an address at the battlefield near Gettysburg where he dedicates a portion of the field to be used as a cemetery for the men who lost their lives in combat.
B) President Lincoln delivers an address at the battlefield near Gettysburg where he expresses his contempt for the Civil War.
C) President Lincoln delivers an address at the battlefield near Gettysburg where he begins to doubt the future of America.
D) President Lincoln delivers an address at the battlefield near Gettysburg celebrating the end of the Civil War.
12)
What is the main idea of this speech?
A) The battle at Gettysburg was hard fought.
B) Lincoln will not be re-elected due to the war.
C) The nation will most likely cease to exist due to the war.
D) Brave men died fighting a war that will test the strength of the nation.