USA HISTORY

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-What is the great task before Lincoln in 1863?

(A) winning the war to obtain freedom from Great Britain

(B) stop the war now even if slavery continues

(C) ** keep fighting for democracy and freedom

(D) becoming a You tube star

Concept note-1: -The “unfinished work” to which Lincoln refers, “the great task remaining before us, ” is to put into practice the proposition to which this nation was and is dedicated: that all men are created equal. Miraculous though it was, the Constitution had left that work unfinished.

Concept note-2: -The main message of the Gettysburg Address is that ideals are worth dying for and that it is up to the living to carry on the work of those who died to protect ideals. The ideals of equality and freedom are the bedrock of the United States as a nation.

Concept note-3: -The unfinished work includes the fact that the struggle continues for a new birth of freedom. “that this nation should have a new birth of freedom” According to the address, when was this nation’s first birth of freedom? In the first line of the address, Lincoln describes the birth of freedom in this country in 1776.

Concept note-4: -The stated purpose of Lincoln’s speech was to dedicate a plot of land that would become Soldier’s National Cemetery. However, Lincoln realized that he also had to inspire the people to continue the fight. Below is the text of the Gettysburg Address, interspersed with my thoughts on what made it so memorable.