In a very humble and quick speech, Abraham Lincoln not only gives an honorable sendoff to the soldiers who gave their lives for their country, but also unites a nation around a common goal. Through his rhetorical use of repetition and parallelism, Lincoln delivers his main message of unity as a nation. In Abraham Lincoln's famous groundbreaking speech "The Gettysburg Address," Lincoln's use of superior rhetoric and leadership reignites the passion and desire of the American people to come together for a common goal. Lincoln immediately grabs the audience's attention with a reference to the past and future. : “Eighty-seven years ago our fathers brought into being on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” (“Gettysburg”). In this brief speech, he explained how democracy itself was based on the proposition that all men are created equal. This assertion at this time was a profound and politically risky assertion for the times and the doctrine of states' rights would not hold up in the "more perfect union" of Lincoln's vision. Four sixty-seven is much more complex than just saying eighty-seven. This is appropriate because 87 years before, the United States had won its freedom from Great Britain (“Gettysburg Address”). Lincoln gives the audience a recap of the foundation upon which the country was founded on liberty and equality. This is a perfect basis for the next sentence of the speech: "Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether this nation, or any other nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure" ("The Speech of Gettysburg by Abraham Lincoln). Lincoln indicates that a challenge must be faced head-on and that the p...... middle of paper ......ation of Independence and associated the sacrifices of the Civil War with the desire for a new birth of liberty, as well as the preservation of the United States of America and its principle of self-government. In the years that followed, the Gettysburg Address will remain perhaps the most quoted and remembered speech in American history. .Works Cited “Gettysburg Address.” Gettysburg Address, nd Web, November 14, 2013. Peters, John U. “Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address.” October 21, 2013. “Discourse Analysis: Gettysburg Address – Abraham Lincoln.” Six Minutes RSS, nd Web, November 14, 2013. Watson, Martha. “Ordeal By Fire: The Transformative Rhetoric of Abraham Lincoln.” Rhetoric and Public Affairs 3.1 (2000): 33-48. MLA International Bibliography. Internet. October 21. 2013.