Group Outline

1. During the American Civil War, after the battle of Gettysburg, the climax of the war, Abraham Lincoln gave his famous speech at the commemoration of the Field. His type of "funeral oration" is one of the most famous speeches in America to date starting with the phrase "four score and seven years ago" that is very known today. He gave this speeched at the consecration of Gettysburg where so many U.S. soldiers died. He believed that they should consecrate the field not only because so many died there, but for what they did die for, freedom. "...that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion"(Lincoln). Another example of a funeral oration is the speech that Pericles gave at the funeral for the war dead, at the end of the first year of the Pelopennesian war. ("Pericles' Funeral Oration.") Pericles gave his speech and said that the Athenians that are still living should work for the cause that their dead die for. In both cases the speakers tell the living that they should not let the cause that the dead died for to rest.
1. Thesis:

Even though the speeches of Lincoln and Pericles are separate from each other they do share a certain link between them.

2. Honor
1. "...we have forced every sea and land to be the highway of our daring, and everywhere, whether for evil or for good, have left imperishable monuments behind us." do anything for country (Pericles)
2. "...that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain…" (Lincoln)
3. Both paragraphs honor the dead that have fought for their countries
4. Both honor the country that they are a part of

3. Pride
1. "In short, I say that as a city we are the school of Hellas, while I doubt if the world can produce a man who, where he has only himself to depend upon, is equal to so many emergencies, and graced by so happy a versatility, as the Athenian. And that this is no mere boast thrown out for the occasion, but plain matter of fact, the power of the state acquired by these habits proves” “Pericles” (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/pericles-funeralspeech.html)
2. “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.” “Lincoln” (http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/P/al16/speeches/gettys.htm

4. Appeal to Patriotism

1. “Such is the Athens for which these men, in the assertion of their resolve not to lose her, nobly fought and died; and well may every one of their survivors be ready to suffer in her cause.” “Pericles” (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/pericles-funeralspeech.html)
2. “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.” “Lincoln” (http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/P/al16/speeches/gettys.htm)

V. Conclusion

a. restate thesis