English questions
One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the Southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union, even by war; while the government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war, the magnitude, or the duration, which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses! for it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh! If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South, this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a Living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope. fervently do we pray that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan-to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.


1. In this address, Lincoln is addressing:
(a) America on the brink of the Civil War.
(b) America at the end of the Civil War.
(c) An America far enough into the war to have felt its toll.
(d) the Confederates.
(e) the slaves.


2. Lincoln attempts to persuade his audience that:
(a) the war should continue until the Confederacy surrenders.
(b) the war must end now.
(c) the slaves should be set free.
(d) the war has benefited the economy.
(e) the Confederates are on the verge of surrender.

3. Lincoln establishes his ethos by:
(a) taking responsibility for the war.
(b) quoting from famous philosophers.
(c) arousing his audience’s anger.
(d) portraying himself as a humble servant of God’s will.
(e) criticizing slaveholders.

4. "It may seem strange, that any man would dare ask God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces" is an example of:
(a) ethos.
(b) pathos.
(c) logos.
(d) ad hoc fallacy.
(e) argument.

5. In the speech as a whole, Lincoln attacks slavery:
(a) not at all.
(b) but indicates that God, not he, is the proper judge of slavery.
(c) fiercely.
(d) only while condemning slaves as well as slavery.
(e) while mentioning the virtues of Confederate supporters.

6. Lincoln argues that the sufferings of the South are:
(a) tragic, and ought to be ended.
(b) greater than the sufferings of the North.
(c) the result of God’s justice.
(d) less than the suffering of their slaves.
(e) at an end.

7. In general, Lincoln uses diction and cadences similar to:
(a) a legal contract.
(b) a political debate.
(c) a drama.
(d) an elegy.
(e) the Bible.

8. The state of mind Lincoln attempts to create in his audience is one of:
(a) horror about the tragedies of war.
(b) anger toward the Confederates.
(c) a renewed belief in the war’s cause, and inspiration to press on until the end.
(d) a solemn reminiscence about the deaths caused by the war.
(e) a desire to end the war.