Persuasion 1

Exercise
A.

Name: _______________
Date: ____/_______/______
Time: ___:___to___:___
Abraham Lincoln

Biography: Abraham Lincoln was born February 12 th, 1806 in

Hardin County, Kentucky.4 He became the United States'
16th President in 1861, issuing the Emancipation
Proclamation that declared forever free those slaves within
the Confederacy in 18631. The Gettysburg Address was
given in commemoration of the three-day battle of
Gettysburg, a turning point in the Civil War, which left over
51,000 Casualties.4
He married Mary Todd, and they had four boys, only one of
whom lived to maturity. In 1858 Lincoln ran against Stephen
A. Douglas for Senator. He lost the election, but in debating
with Douglas he gained a national reputation that won him
the Republican nomination for President in 1860. 1
On Good Friday, April 14, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated at
Ford's Theatre in Washington by John Wilkes Booth, an actor,
who somehow thought he was helping the South. The
opposite was the result, for with Lincoln's death, the
possibility of peace with magnanimity died.1
I. Fill in the blanks in the sentences below based upon the
paragraphs above:
1) Abraham Lincoln was born ______________, _______
in _________ County, Kentucky.
2) He became the United States' ______th President in
_______.
3) Lincoln issued the ____________________________
that declared forever free those _________within
the ______________in _______.
4) The _____________________ was given in
commemoration of the ________-day battle of
Gettysburg, a turning point in the ________ War,
which left over _________ casualties.

5) He married ____________, and they had _______

boys, only ______ of whom lived to maturity.
6) In _______ Lincoln ran against __________________for
Senator.
7) On Good Friday, _________________, Lincoln was
assassinated at ________ Theatre.
______ ________ ________, was an actor, who
somehow thought he was helping the ________.
8) With ____________ death, the possibility of ________
with magnanimity died.
America was in the midst of a bloody civil war. Union* troops
had only four months earlier defeated Confederate* troops
at the Battle of Gettysburg which is widely recognized as the
turning point of the war. The stated purpose of Lincolns
speech was to dedicate a plot of land that would become
Soldiers National Cemetery to honor the fallen. However,
the Civil War still raged and Lincoln realized that he also had
to inspire the people to continue the fight.
*Union - government of the United States with Lincoln as its President
*confederate - republic formed in 1861, composed of 11 Southern states
that seceded from the United States in order to preserve slavery

II. Read the sentences and underline the choice that best
matches the definition of the italicized word.
Example: Ireland is called the Emerald Isle because of its
landscape being covered largely with green fields of
verdant grass. From this context, which definition best
matches verdant :
1. covered with growing
2. scarlet red
plants or grass
3. relevant

4. a storekeeper
Graphic of the field of Gettysburg

1) Abraham Lincoln issued his Emancipation

Proclamation which served to free the slaves from
their forced servitude. From this context, which
definition best matches emancipate:
1. to free
3. to punish

2. to enslave
4. to capture

2) The Civil War was fought between the Northern States

(collectively called the Union) and the Southern
(Confederate) States. From this context, which
definition best matches Confederacy:
1. Canadian Territories
3. The Southern States

2. Mexican land
4. The Western States

3) In the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln said that the field

in which they were standing should be
commemorated to honor of all of the fallen soldiers.
From this context, which definition best matches
commemoration :
1. to honor a person's
2. to show disrespect
memory
3. to defend something 4. to show favoritism
4) Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was a formal
statement which he made as President to free all of
the slaves in the country. From this context, which
definition best matches proclamation :
1. to say something
secretly
3. a public and official
announcement

2. a group of people against

something
4. a display of information to
a large group

5) Because Lincoln died from his injuries, he never had

the chance to show any magnanimity to his assassin,
John Wilkes Booth. From this context, which definition
best matches magnanimity :
1. humility about one's accomplishments
2. generosity in forgiving an insult or injury
3. stubbornness in not forgiving someone
4. fear of one's leaders

III. Read the proceeding parts from Abraham Lincoln's

Gettysburg Address, and answer the questions that
follow them.
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.4
1. What is the basis on which the country was founded?
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
2. How were the principles on which the nation was
founded under attack?
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
3. What is Lincoln asking in Now we are engaged in a
great civil war, testing whether that nation or any
nation so conceived and so dedicated can long
endure?
Mark the correct answer or answers.

___Lincoln extends the significance of the war apply

to America only
___Lincoln implies it is not just a question of whether
America could survive, but rather a question of
whether any nation
___Lincoln is proposing that everyone in the nation
take a test to see if America will last
___Lincoln is asking whether any nation has ever
survived a civil war intact founded on the same
principles could survive.

Persuasion 1
Exercise

Name: _______________
Date: ____/_______/______
Time: ___:___to___:___

III.(continued) Read the proceeding parts from Abraham

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, and answer the questions
that follow them.
We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have
come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final restingplace 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. 4
4. How is it fitting that a portion on that field should be
dedicated as a final resting-place for the soldiers
who gave their lives in that war?
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
5. What does that last sentence of this passage mean?
What is the larger sense to which Lincoln is
referring?___________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
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.4

6. From this context of the first sentence, underline the

definition that best matches the meaning of the word
consecrated :
1. to make or declare
2. to provide or be an
sacred
equivalent
3. to join together
4. to put something on
display in a church
7. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here
have consecrated it far above our poor power to
add or detract means :
a) Dead men are less brave than living ones.
b) This sentence is full of solemn respect for those who
fought. It is an eloquent way of saying that their
actions speak louder than Lincolns work.
c) They don't have enough electricity to consecrate
the ground according to regulation standards
d) His words are more important than the soldier's
actions.
8. In the second sentence of this passage, to who do
the pronouns we and they refer?
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
9. In the third sentence of this passage, what is the
unfinished work that is mentioned?
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Graphic of Lincoln in front of a crowd of people giving a
speech

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.4
10. In the second and third lines of this passage, what is
the metaphorical comparison being made by the
phrase last full measure of devotion?
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
11. In the last half of the third line, what would have to
happen for the honored dead to die in vain?
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
12. In the last two lines, to which group of people is
Lincoln referring? Why are they important?
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
13. What action is Lincoln trying to rouse the audience to
take?
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________

Persuasion 1
Exercise

Name: _______________
Date: ____/_______/______
Time: ___:___to___:___

IV. From the context of the previous sections, write the

number of the definition which best matches each
word/phrase on the line after it.
Example:
a) Persuade _2_

1) a cause that
contributes to a result

b) Element _1_

2) to cause to believe;
convince

a) Casualties___

l) Hallow___

b) Lived to Maturity___

m) Detract___

c) Ran Against___

n) Note___

d) Assassinated___

o) Unfinished Work___

e) Four score and seven___

p) Nobly___

f) Proposition___

q) Honored Dead___

g) Civil War___

r) Last Full Measure of

Devotion___

h) Conceived___
s) Died in Vain___
i) Dedicate___
t) Birth of Freedom___
j) Fitting and Proper___
k) Consecrate___

1) Take away from

2) To oppose in a political
election
3) Soldiers who died in the
Battle of Gettysburg
4) 87
5) Continued life into
adulthood

12) to honor as holy; consider

sacred; venerate
13) Take notice of
14) To kill suddenly or
secretively, especially a
politically prominent person
15) To die without purpose or
greater meaning

6) In a noble way

16) To devote to some

7) Giving your life to a cause purpose:
greater than yourself
17) To think up something;
plan; imagine
8) Respectful to the dead
9) A job that still need to be
completed by others
10) People who lost their lives

18) A proposal or topic

presented for consideration;
an idea
19) A swell of patriotism

11) To devote wholly and

earnestly, as to some person 20) A war between two
different factions of the same
or purpose
country
Graphic of something involving the Civil War and/or
Abraham Lincoln

V. In the following exercise, draw a line from the word in the

first column to the synonym (word(s) that means about the
same thing) in the second column.
Example:
1. Green
2. Funny
3. Table
1. Dedicate
2. Detract

a) Comical
b) Emerald
c) Desk
a) 87
b) People who died
c) Appointment of duty

3. Four score and seven

4. Confederacy

d) Government of the United

States with Lincoln as its
President

5. Casualties

e) Hallow

6. Nomination

f) Take away

7. Union

g) A group or clique within a

larger group, party,
government, organization

8. Rouse

h) Southern States

9. Earnestly

i) To come to a definite or
decision about

10. Resolve

j) Fire up

11. Faction

k) Serious in intention

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Bibliography
1) "Abraham Lincoln." The White House. The White
House, n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2015.
2) The Greatest American Speeches: The Stories and
Transcripts of the Words That Changed History.
London: Quercus, 2006. Print.

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