The Gettysburg Address quiz
By Abraham Lincoln
A president comes to dedicate a battlefield cemetery and tells the crowd they cannot, then says what the living owe the dead.
18 questions · about 19 minutes
Questions and answers
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Question 1. Which literary genres best describe "The Gettysburg Address"?
- Essay, Personal Reflection & Philosophical Meditation
- Sermon, Religious Literature & Moral Instruction
- Correct answer: Speech, Commemorative Address & Political Oratory
- Elegy, Lyric Poetry & Formal Lament
- Proclamation, Legal Document & Executive Order
It is a speech: a commemorative address delivered at the dedication of a soldiers' cemetery. It is also political oratory, because it does more than mourn. It argues that the war is "testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure" and calls the audience to finish "the great task remaining before us."
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Question 2. What does the opening sentence establish about the nation Lincoln is talking about?
- It was founded by soldiers who won its freedom on the field at Gettysburg
- Correct answer: It was conceived in liberty and devoted to the idea that all men are equal
- It was founded as a union of states that could leave whenever they chose
- It was founded to protect the property and trade of its wealthiest citizens
Lincoln opens: "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." He defines the nation by its founding ideals, liberty and equality, rather than by its land, its laws, or its wars, and everything else in the speech builds on that founding idea.
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Question 3. According to Lincoln, what is the civil war "testing"?
- Whether the North's army can defeat the army of the South
- Whether the states will accept a stronger central government
- Correct answer: Whether a nation founded on liberty and equality can long endure
- Whether the soldiers who fought here will be remembered at all
Lincoln says the war is "testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure." The words "or any nation so conceived" widen the stakes: if this nation fails, it suggests that no government built on liberty and equality can last. The war is a test of the founding idea itself.
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Question 4. Which pattern of imagery connects "brought forth," "conceived in Liberty," and "a new birth of freedom"?
- Correct answer: A metaphor of birth that treats the nation as something born and reborn
- A metaphor of harvest that treats the dead as seed planted in the ground
- A metaphor of building that treats the nation as a house under repair
- A metaphor of journey that treats history as a road still being traveled
The speech begins and ends with birth. Our fathers "brought forth" a nation "conceived in Liberty," and the last sentence hopes the nation "shall have a new birth of freedom." The metaphor makes the nation a living thing that can die, which is why the war is a test of whether it "can long endure," and why victory would be a rebirth rather than a simple win.
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Question 5. Why does Lincoln say the living "can not dedicate" the ground they came to dedicate?
- Only a minister, not a president, has the authority to bless a burial ground
- The battle is still going on, so the ground cannot be dedicated until later
- The cemetery belongs to the state, and its governor must dedicate it instead
- Correct answer: The men who fought there have already made it sacred by their sacrifice
Lincoln explains: "The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract." The ceremony was called to dedicate the ground, and Lincoln says it cannot do that, because the soldiers' actions have already made the ground holy beyond anything words could add.
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Question 6. What is the effect of the three clauses "we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow"?
- Each verb is more legal than the last, showing the ground now belongs to the state
- Correct answer: Each verb is more sacred than the last, building a sense of the ground's holiness
- Each verb is weaker than the last, showing that Lincoln doubts the ceremony is needed
- Each verb is more casual than the last, making the speech sound like a private talk
The repeated opening "we can not" (anaphora) sets up three verbs in rising order: to "dedicate" is to set apart, to "consecrate" is to make sacred, and to "hallow" is to make holy. The triad climbs toward the sacred, and each step makes the audience feel more strongly how far the soldiers' sacrifice goes beyond anything the speakers can do.
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Question 7. "The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here." Which device does this sentence rely on most?
- Hyperbole, exaggerating the size of the crowd that listened
- Allusion, pointing to a famous earlier speech about war
- Correct answer: Antithesis, setting what we say against what they did
- Onomatopoeia, imitating the sounds of the battle itself
Antithesis places opposed ideas in balanced, parallel phrases: "what we say here" against "what they did here," and "little note, nor long remember" against "never forget." Lincoln uses it to lower the importance of words and raise the importance of deeds. The irony is that the world has remembered his words very well.
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Question 8. In "dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal," what does "proposition" mean?
- Correct answer: A statement put forward to be proven or tested
- A business offer or deal suggested to another
- A truth so plain it needs no proof at all
- A question put before voters on an election ballot
A proposition is a claim put forward to be proven, as in a geometry proof. Lincoln's word choice matters: equality is not presented as settled fact but as an idea the nation committed itself to proving. That is why the next paragraph says the war is "testing whether that nation" can long endure.
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Question 9. In "It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here," how does the word "dedicated" change its meaning?
- It shifts from praising the soldiers of one side to praising the soldiers of both
- It shifts from a promise made by the founders to a promise made by the dead soldiers
- It shifts from the formal language of law to the language of a business agreement
- Correct answer: It shifts from setting apart a piece of land to committing the listeners themselves
This is the turn of the speech. In the second paragraph, "We have come to dedicate a portion of that field." After saying the living cannot do that, Lincoln turns the word on his audience: "It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work." The ground is already consecrated; what still needs dedicating is the people.
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Question 10. What is the "unfinished work" that the soldiers "thus far so nobly advanced"?
- Correct answer: Making sure the nation and its ideal of freedom and equality survive
- Finishing the cemetery so each soldier gets a proper burial
- Writing a new constitution to replace the one the founders wrote
- Rebuilding the town and the farms that the battle had left in ruins
The work is the cause the soldiers fought for: proving that a nation "conceived in Liberty" can "long endure." The final sentence spells out what finishing it means, 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."
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Question 11. What does "consecrate" mean as Lincoln uses it?
- To bury the dead in a marked grave
- To spoil or dishonor something held holy
- Correct answer: To make or declare something sacred
- To bring together for a shared purpose
To consecrate is to make or declare something sacred. Lincoln uses the word twice: the living "can not consecrate" the ground, because the soldiers "have consecrated it" already. Its opposite is desecrate, to dishonor something sacred.
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Question 12. What does "government of the people, by the people, for the people" express through its three parallel phrases?
- Power shared equally among the president, the courts, and Congress
- Correct answer: Power that comes from the people, is used by them, and serves them
- Power kept by the states, lent to the nation, and returned in war
- Power held by the people only until a crisis like war is finally over
This closing tricolon repeats "the people" three times while changing only the preposition. Government "of" the people draws its authority from them, government "by" the people is run by them, and government "for" the people serves them. The parallel structure makes the definition of democracy easy to remember, and the speech ends by insisting it "shall not perish from the earth."
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Question 13. In the final sentence, what three things does Lincoln ask his listeners to "highly resolve"?
- That the dead be honored every year, the battlefield be preserved, and the war end
- That the army be rebuilt, the rebel states be punished, and peace be restored
- Correct answer: That the dead not die in vain, the nation be reborn in freedom, and democracy survive
- That the soldiers be paid, their families be cared for, and their names be recorded
Lincoln asks "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." The three resolutions move from the dead, to the nation, to democracy itself.
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Question 14. Given the occasion, what is the speech's main purpose for its audience?
- To report the battle's outcome and name the officers who led the charge
- To announce new war policies and ask Congress for more troops and money
- To comfort grieving families by promising the war would end within the year
- Correct answer: To honor the fallen and recommit the living to the cause they died for
Lincoln spoke at the dedication of a soldiers' cemetery, so honoring the dead was expected. His larger purpose is to turn grief into resolve: "from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion." The speech names no battle results, officers, or policies.
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Question 15. How is the speech's three-paragraph structure organized in time?
- Correct answer: Past, present, future: the founding, the war, then the work still to be done
- Future, present, past: a warning, the battle, then a memory of the founders
- Present, past, present: the cemetery, the battle, then the cemetery again
- Past only: all three paragraphs retell how the founders created the nation in 1776
The first paragraph is the past: the nation's founding. The second is the present: "Now we are engaged in a great civil war" and the gathering at the battlefield. The third points to the future: "the unfinished work" and the hope that the nation "shall have a new birth of freedom." Birth, test, rebirth: the speech's structure follows the life of the nation.
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Question 16. A score is twenty years. Counting back "Four score and seven years" from 1863 lands on which year and which founding event?
- 1787, the drafting of the Constitution
- Correct answer: 1776, the Declaration of Independence
- 1781, the final victory at Yorktown
- 1789, Washington's first inauguration
Four score and seven is 4 × 20 + 7 = 87 years, and 1863 − 87 = 1776, the year of the Declaration of Independence. By counting from the Declaration, Lincoln roots the nation in its promise that "all men are created equal."
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Question 17. At what kind of ceremony did Lincoln deliver this speech on November 19, 1863?
- His own second inauguration as president
- The opening session of a new Congress
- A memorial for the founders of 1776
- Correct answer: The dedication of a soldiers' cemetery
Lincoln spoke at the dedication of the soldiers' cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The speech names the occasion itself: "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."
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Question 18. Which of these events actually happened in the story?
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Lincoln says the nation was "conceived in Liberty" and dedicated to the idea that all men are created equal.
Happened
The first sentence describes "a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."
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Lincoln names the Confederacy as the enemy the soldiers fought against.
Didn't happen
The speech never names either side. It speaks only of "a great civil war" and "the brave men, living and dead, who struggled here."
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Lincoln praises the general who commanded the army in the battle.
Didn't happen
No general, officer, or soldier is named. Lincoln honors "these honored dead" as a group.
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Lincoln predicts that the world will not long remember the words spoken at the ceremony.
Happened
He says: "The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here."
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Lincoln mentions slavery by name as a cause of the war.
Didn't happen
The word slavery never appears. Lincoln speaks instead of a nation dedicated to the idea "that all men are created equal" and of "a new birth of freedom."
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Lincoln refers to the country as the Union throughout the speech.
Didn't happen
The word Union never appears. Lincoln says "nation" five times, which keeps attention on the country's founding ideals rather than on the political bond among the states.
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Lincoln names the town and state where the battle took place.
Didn't happen
Neither Gettysburg nor Pennsylvania is named in the speech itself. Lincoln says only "We are met on a great battle-field of that war," which makes the speech about the whole war and the nation.
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Lincoln asks his listeners to take "increased devotion" from the dead.
Happened
He says "that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion."
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