"The Gettysburg Address"

Question

by Abraham Lincoln

Gettysburg address delivered at Gettysburg Pa. Nov. 19th, 1863. [n. p. n. d.].

Gettysburg Address

Delivered at Gettysburg, Pa

Nov. 19th 1863.

“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. “Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. 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. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. “But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. 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. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us,that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln

Question
Use the passages to answer the question.

LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL

Credit Line: Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” April 16, 1963. The Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr.

What is one difference between the two passages?

(1 point)
Responses

Lincoln responds to his critics, while King lists the concerns he has for unifying the country.
Lincoln responds to his critics, while King lists the concerns he has for unifying the country.

King’s tone is formal while Lincoln’s is more conversational.
King’s tone is formal while Lincoln’s is more conversational.

Lincoln believes some tension is necessary, while King calls for unity.
Lincoln believes some tension is necessary, while King calls for unity.

King believes some tension is necessary, while Lincoln calls for unity.

Answer 1

One notable difference between the two passages is that Lincoln believes some tension is necessary, while King calls for unity.

In the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln acknowledges the ongoing Civil War and the struggle for the nation, emphasizing that it is a test of whether the nation can endure. He frames the war as a means of dedicating the effort to the principles of liberty and equality.

In contrast, King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" articulates the need for direct action and tension to bring about social change, while ultimately advocating for unity and reconciliation among people.