(A) Testing if any country can survive forever
(B) ** Trying to see if we or any country who believes in that idea can continue to exist
EXPLANATIONS BELOW
Concept note-1: -Without the phrase, Lincoln would only be talking about the survival of a specific place, the nation founded in 1776 (“that nation”). With the phrase – “or any nation so conceived or dedicated” he says the question is not just the survival of that nation – but any nation built on the same principles.
Concept note-2: -That is the idea Lincoln refers to in this section of the speech: The Civil War was testing whether the United States, which was founded on liberty and equality, could survive.
Concept note-3: -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-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.