USA HISTORY

What does Lincoln mean when he says, “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here” (lines 13-15)?

(A) ** Actions are more important than words.

(B) It is more important to talk about beliefs than to take action about those beliefs.

(C) The consequences of commemoration will last far longer than the consequences of their heroism.

(D) The soldiers dedication to the Union should be honored with our words and the commemoration of the cemetery.

Concept note-1: -5. When Lincoln says, “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here, “ what is his purpose for using brevity? To convey that his speech is not as important as the actions of the people who fought for their country.

Concept note-2: -The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. 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.

Concept note-3: -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-4: -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-5: -Answering this question will force students to pay attention to two things that Lincoln says – that this nation is “conceived in Liberty” and “dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” Students need to grasp the structure of the sentence: these two phrases modify and describe the “new nation.”