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My law career led me o a career in politics. I held offices in Illinois before being elected to Congress. Now, I am the leader of a divided nation in the throes of a vicious civil war. I have a duty to deliver this address, not Just to honor the dead; but to inspire the living. To persuade my countrymen that, indeed, this war is not only about keeping the country united, but also those rights of equality which every man is endowed with. This speech, (which will later be well-known as “The Gettysburg Address”) like many of mine, was influenced by the Bible and the Declaration of Independence.
The Bible and the Declaration of Independence are two documents which I regard in the highest authority. Members of my cabinet that accompanied me on the trip to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, describe my face as having a “ghastly color”. On the way to deliver the address, I did not feel well. I remarked to some of my traveling companions of feeling dizzy. Although I didn’t know it, I was coming down with smallpox. The theme of the “Gettysburg Address” is an inspiration. The country is in turmoil, and the Battle of Gettysburg is the bloodiest to date.
Both the Union and Confederate armies have sustained many casualties in this battle. It is my duty as the President to pay homage to the soldiers lost. Also, it is my duty to remind people that there are some things worth fighting for, no matter the cost. I must ensure that “the brave men, living and dead, who struggled here” (Wills 307) did not die in vain. Also, there is a unity theme. I don’t want a divided country. I don’t want the deaths of any of the men who gave their life at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to be taken lightly. This speech is a presidential address written to reassure. It has references to the
Bible and the Declaration of Independence. It begins: “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” (Wills 307). This shows that the men who created our country believed in equality and freedom. These are the same great minds that, eighty-seven years ago, set into motion the very events which led to our great nation’s freedom. The Gettysburg Address states, “that a government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” (Wills 307).