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Historical reference. His famous speech, Abraham Lincoln, read on November 19, 1863 during the opening of a soldier cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Of particular importance to her is the fact that a few months earlier, one of the most bloody battles of the civil war took place here, which became a turning point. The parties suffered huge losses, but the initiative passed into the hands of the northern states - the Union, and the troops of the Confederation were forced to retreat. The text of the speech is completely carved on the pedestal of the Lincoln memorial at the Lincoln Memorial. Remarkably, next to the Memorial, almost 100 years later (August 28, 1963), ML King, make his no less famous speech, "I Have a Dream". Here is the text of the speech: Eighty-seven years have passed since our fathers founded a new nation on this continent, which owes its birth to freedom and devoted itself to proving that all people are born equal. Now we are going through a great test of civil war, which will decide whether this nation or any nation, similar to it by birth or by vocation, can resist. We converged on the field where the great battle of this war rattled. We came to consecrate part of this land - the last refuge of those who gave their lives for the life of this nation. And this in itself is quite appropriate and worthy. But it is not in our power to sanctify this field, to make it sacred, to spiritualism this land. Acts of brave, fallen and living, who fought here, this land is already sacred, and not in our humble powers anything to add or subtract. What we are saying here will only be casually noticed and soon forgotten, but what they have done here will never be forgotten. Let us, alive, devote ourselves to the unfinished business that these warriors performed here. Let us devote ourselves here to the great work that is ahead of us, and we will be filled with even greater determination to give ourselves to the goal that the fallen here gave themselves completely and to the end. Let us solemnly swear that their death will not be in vain, that this God-preserved nation will gain a restored freedom and that the people's power, by the will of the people and for the people, will not disappear from the face of the earth. Characteristics of the speech This speech is made great not by oratorical techniques or authoring techniques. In the circulation of 272 words, which lasted a little more than 2 minutes, there was no room for rhetorical research. But during the performance, everyone gathered completely into the ear. They glistened with tears in their eyes - tears of mourning for the dead and tears of pride for a great cause by them. Lincoln was sure that a person can not die in vain if he fights for freedom and unity of the nation. With his words and his life, he helped others to believe in it. There are several views on the sources from which the author drew inspiration for the presentation. Researchers in the history of rhetoric note the similarity in the organization of Abraham Lincoln's speech with the speech of Pericles over the graves of soldiers who died in the first year of the Peloponnese War. There is also an opinion that the strongest phrase of the whole speech - "the power of the people, the will of the people and for the people" - was borrowed from the reformer of the unitary church of Theodore Parker. Some biographers are sure that the president wrote the speech himself, giving it a lot of time, rewriting it several times. At the same time, he took as a basis the principle of equality from the Declaration of Independence. The Gettysburg speech became famous due to the meaning and feelings invested in it. He argued that a civil war was not a battle for some states against others, but a "revival of freedom", a path to the true equality of all people in the entire state. According to eyewitnesses, the statement was so confident, vivid, strong and memorable that the participants did not have any doubts that the victims were not in vain, that a high price is necessary to preserve a single state and values bequeathed to future generations by those who fought somewhat earlier American independence.
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