The Gettysburg Address

Paper must have the Rhetorical Situation

1. The Writer (Abraham Lincoln)
2. The writer’s purpose (why did he give the speech?)
3. The writer’s audience (who was he talking too?)
4. The topic (The Gettysburg Address)
5. The context
6. Look at the essay’s Headnote
7. Look for clues within the essay
8. Search the web,
9. What is the writer’s background?
10. How does the writer’s background after the content of the argument?
11. What preconceptions about the subject does the writer seem to have?
12. Who is the writer’s intended audience?
13. Does the writer see the audience as informed or uninformed?
14. Does the writer see the audience as hostile, friendly, or neutral?
15. What values does the writer think the audience holds?
16. What does the writer seem to assume about the audience background>
17. On what points do the writer and the audience agree? (On what points do they disagree?)
18. What is the topic of the argument?
19. Why did the writer decide to write about this particular topic?
20. Has the writer developed the topic fully enough?
21. What situation (or situations) set the stage for the argument?
22. What social economic, political, and cultural events triggered the argument?
23. What historical references situate this argument in a particular place or time?