4. Coherence.

5. Emphasis.

6. Most important characteristics.

PARAGRAPH 31. This strikingly figurative passage serves to give variety to the style and to pick up the attention, which, in a large audience, is apt to relax during the more abstract and thoughtful parts of the address.

PARAGRAPH 32. Explain how admirably the details are chosen to bring out the contrast with the French Revolution. PARAGRAPH 40. Explain the Biblical suggestion and note how it dignifies the thought of the paragraph.

PARAGRAPH 44. Explain how this paragraph fulfills the purpose of a peroration.

TOPICS FOR ESSAYS AND REPORTS

1. Webster's Personal Characteristics.

2. Webster's Education.

3. The Story of the Dartmouth College Case.

4. The Scene during the First Bunker Hill Address as explained by an Eyewitness.

5. Description of the Battle of Bunker Hill by a Survivor.

6. The Part of General Lafayette in the American Revolution. 7. Origin and Meaning of the Monroe Doctrine.

8. The Struggle for Freedom in Greece, 1820-1828.

9. The South American Revolution, 1810–1824.

10. Origin and Constitution of the Continental Congress.
11. Provisions and Purposes of the Boston Port Bill.
12. The American and French Revolutions compared.

LINCOLN'S ADDRESSES

Lincoln, in some respects, furnishes a better model of public speaking than either Webster or Burke. He was as able as either to penetrate at once to the heart of a subject, and he was never satisfied with an idea until he had "bounded it

north and bounded it south and bounded it east and bounded it west.' His style is more direct and conversational than either Webster's or Burke's; indeed it often has the plainness and simplicity of the Bible. He lacked something, perhaps, of the graces of style, but he was always vigorous and persuasive. His figures of speech were drawn directly from common experience; his illustrations and comparisons grew immediately out of the popular life. No man ever appealed more directly to the popular mind and heart. No man ever more sincerely expressed his convictions and feelings. Style never came between him and his hearers. With him style was not a contrivance to express his personality; it was a part of his personality. There was no separating the style and the man, and it is the union of these two which makes oratory commanding.

Moreover, the occasions on which he spoke and the subjects which he treated were such as appeal to the full powers of an orator. True oratory arises, as Webster says, "when public bodies are to be addressed on momentous occasions, when great interests are at stake, and strong passions excited." Lincoln faced a great crisis in the national life. It was not a time for the graces of rhetoric. "The costly ornaments and studied contrivances of speech, shock and disgust men, when their own lives, and the fate of their wives, their children, and their country hang on the decision of the hour." Then plainness and simplicity and earnestness and moral power are requisite, and these are the secrets of real eloquence.

NOTES AND SUGGESTIONS

SPEECH AT THE SPRINGFIELD CONVENTION, JUNE 17, 1858. This speech is known as the "divided house" speech. It furnished the point of departure for the great series of

Lincoln-Douglas debates. Make an outline of the speech on the lines laid down in the first sentence. Let each heading and subheading contain just one complete but brief sentence.

THE FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS. Paragraph 1. Compare the introduction with the introduction of Washington's Farewell Address and Webster's First Bunker Hill Oration. Washington's is stately but stiff. Webster's is more natural in style than Washington's, but contains a rhetorical flourish in the words "human faces from the impulses of a common gratitude turned reverently to heaven in this spacious temple of the firmament." Lincoln's speech is dignified, but studiously plain, simple, easy.

PARAGRAPH 2. This paragraph illustrates Lincoln's way of brushing aside all merely incidental matters and plunging at once to the very heart of his subject. Explain.

PARAGRAPH 4. Notice the pains taken to enforce and impress unmistakably the ideas.

PARAGRAPH 7. Did the slaveholders believe that it made no material difference whether the fugitive slave law was enforced by national or by state authority? Give reasons.

PARAGRAPH 8. Was there any danger of freemen being surrendered as slaves? Did the free negroes of the North have "all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states"? (Compare the details of the Dred Scott Decision.)

PARAGRAPHS 11-13. Fill out the following outline, making each statement read as a reason for the heading under which it comes:

I. The Union of the states is perpetual because

A.

B.

C.

1.

2.

3.

4.

PARAGRAPH 15. Distinguish clearly in meaning between "insurrectionary" and "revolutionary."

PARAGRAPH 16. The address as a whole is very conciliatory in tone, but paragraphs like this show Lincoln's firmness and stability- the iron in his character. Find other traces of this in the address.

PARAGRAPHS 19-20. Describe in a few sentences Lincoln's attitude toward the South, using this passage and others to explain your meaning. What literary reference do you find in paragraph 20?

PARAGRAPHS 21-26. Explain the relation of these paragraphs to the details of the Dred Scott Case. Had the Supreme Court passed upon any of these questions? What was Lincoln's attitude towards this decision? (See the LincolnDouglas Debates.)

PARAGRAPH 27. Why mention the law for the suppression of the foreign slave trade?

PARAGRAPH 28. This is a striking example of simple, clear, conversational speaking. Compare it carefully with typical paragraphs from the speeches of Washington and Webster in order to get the clear difference in style. (Bunker Hill Address, paragraphs 7, 28, 30; Washington's Farewell Address, paragraphs 9, 15, 17, 19.)

PARAGRAPHS 33-35. Characterize the concluding paragraphs. Do they summarize the address? What emotional qualities are contained in them? How do they illustrate

Lincoln's character? What are the most convincing parts of the speech? What the most persuasive?

THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. This masterpiece of simplicity and condensation illustrates Lincoln's power to get at the heart of a situation at once. Here is a brief but clear historical introduction, an explanation of the occasion, the meaning of the occasion from a negative and from a positive point of view, the enforcement and exhortation all complete in little more than 150 words. Learn the address by heart and speak it aloud. In speaking, is it better to join the sentence, "It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this," with what precedes or with what follows?

Notice the rhythmic flow of the sentences. This address should be compared with the speech of Edward Everett on the same occasion. On the day after the dedication Everett wrote to Lincoln as follows:

"Permit me to express my great admiration of the thoughts expressed by you, with such eloquent simplicity and appropriateness, at the consecration of the cemetery. I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes."

SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS. This address shows well the greatness of Lincoln's character. When we think of the trials and struggles of his first administration, we are amazed at his freedom from bitterness, his broad charity, his frank faith in God. The sincere and intimate tone of the address is remarkable. Rarely does a man thus express the depths of his nature in public speech.

Find all the Biblical allusions and notice what dignity and strength they give to the style. Point out effective uses of balance and contrast. This address should be learned by heart.