USA HISTORY

“I wish that I could flatter myself that I had come as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes.“-Edward EverettThis quote is a great example that ____

(A) Quantity is more important than quality.

(B) Quality has very little importance, if any.

(C) Lincoln’s speech was extremely long.

(D) ** The quality of writing/speech is more important than the quantity.

Concept note-1: -In his two-hour formal oration he compared the Battle of Gettysburg to battles of antiquity such as Marathon, and spoke about how opposing sides in previous civil wars (such as the War of the Roses and the Thirty Years’ War) were able to reconcile their differences afterward.

Concept note-2: -What is the main purpose of the Gettysburg Address? The main purpose of the Gettysburg Address at the time it was given was to commemorate a new National Cemetery at Gettysburg. It also gave Lincoln’s purpose for pushing on to win the Civil War-the abolition of slavery and the reunification of the Union.

Concept note-3: -Gettysburg Address On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered a short speech at the close of ceremonies dedicating the battlefield cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Honoring a request to offer a few remarks, Lincoln memorialized the Union dead and highlighted the redemptive power of their sacrifice.

Concept note-4: -Lincoln’s message in his Gettysburg Address was that the living can honor the wartime dead not with a speech, but rather by continuing to fight for the ideas they gave their lives for.