USA HISTORY

What was the main idea of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address?

(A) ** Dedicate the field as a cemetery

(B) End slavery

(C) ** Motivate the troops to keep fighting

(D) Stop General Lee

Concept note-1: -Lincoln’s address tied the suffering of the soldiers who had died, and the civilians who had lost their families, to a sense of the meaning of American democracy. The speech called not just for military victory but also for a new birth of freedom.

Concept note-2: -The Gettysburg Address was given by Lincoln four months after the Battle of Gettysburg. The central idea Lincoln embedded in the Gettysburg Address was that Americans should honor those who fell in the battle and continue the war until it has been won.

Concept note-3: -The speech was to memorialize dead Union soldiers and emphasize the importance of maintaining united states. Between the Confederate and Union armies, more than 7, 000 soldiers died during the Battle of Gettysburg.

Concept note-4: -Lincoln’s decision to fight rather than to let the Southern states secede was not based on his feelings towards slavery. Rather, he felt it was his sacred duty as President of the United States to preserve the Union at all costs.