The Gettysburg Address "Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in lib
erty 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." Which of the following is the best summary of the line in bold? The bolded: 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
Options:
A. The battle fought at this particular location was unimportant.
B. Patriotic citizens have the right to rebel against government.
C. War is pointless and should be used only as a last resort.
D. Our purpose is to see this war through and to win it for justice.
The answer is slightly obvious. Obviously we know it’s not A. The Address does not talk about how citizens have the right to rebel, so it’s not B either. The Address is not taking a tone that reveals that war is pointless, and uses no negative terms to answer that claim. It’s not C either. Your answer is D, because the Address talks about how from those that have died, the remaining have increased devotion to their cause, and to resolve the conflict so that those who have died shall not die in vain.
