I Have A Dream Analysis

Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address/ Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream”
The “Gettysburg Address” was presented by President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War in 1863. The “I Have a Dream” speech was presented during the March on Washington during the Civil Rights Movement in 1963. These speeches, even one-hundred years difference in time when given, they both address a common theme for freedom and equality. The “Gettysburg Address” purpose was to urge and give hope to his audience to continue to fight for the Union so America would not perish and the “I Have a Dream” purpose of demanding an urgent change for equality for all. This paper will examine how each speaker uses rhetorical devices to attain their purposes.
“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…” Lincoln stated. He uses parallelism to get his audience to have a continuation for supporting the Union. “Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.” He also states to urge for his audience to finish the unfinished work of the soldiers who died in the Battle of Gettysburg and fight for the Union so that the nation would be able to survive and not separate. His goals of using these rhetorical devices is to make his audience gain confidence and to continue to fight. For the goal of freedom and equality for all. “Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.
Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand’s of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.” Dr. King states. Dr. King uses parallelism to state the conditions of why now was the time to stand up and act. His use of repetition on “Now is the time…” urges his audience to seize the moment. He uses this device so his audience would realize that, that very moment was the moment to realize and act for the idea for both freedom and equality. That this will make his audience react by demanding for racial equality. To make those promises of justice true for all.
Overall, both speakers of the “Gettysburg Address” and the “I Have a Dream” speech uses their rhetoric devices to attain their purposes. The purpose of “Gettysburg Address” to urge and give hope to America and “I Have a Dream” to urge America to fight for the equal justice. Their use of rhetoric tools help define both their difference in theme but also helps their theme for unity, freedom, and justice stands for
both.