USA HISTORY

AMERICAN CIVIL WAR(1861 1865)

GETTYSBURG ADDRESS

[SOURCES]
We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.

(A) ** We have come to say that part of this field is holy because it is a final resting place for those who died here so that our country can continue to exist

(B) We have come here to create a place where soldiers can rest because they fought so hard for our country.

EXPLANATIONS BELOW

Concept note-1: -“For those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.” This phrase refers to the soldiers that fought on this very field. Note that Lincoln picks up on the idea from the first two sentences, that is, they are fighting for the survival of the country – “so that that nation might live.”

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: -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.