1. Look at the picture and try to answer the questions:
Who is the person shown in this picture?
What is he doing?
Why is he doing it?
Why is the event shown in this picture important?

2. Look at the picture and try to answer the questions:
Who is the person shown in this picture? Abraham Lincoln
What is he doing?
Giving a famous speech called
the Gettysburg Address
Why is he doing it?
To honor the soldiers who died
at the Battle of Gettysburg
during the American Civil War
Why is the event shown in this
picture important?
It is one of the most famous
speeches in history and it helped
to remind Americans that our
nation was built on democratic
ideas.

3. Was Lincoln’s Speech original or did he copy it from an Ancient Greek politician named Pericles?
????????

4. Each man would die within two years of delivering his speech
The Speeches – Background Information
Pericles – Funeral Oration –
Athens, 431BC
Greece was involved in a civil war,
Athens vs Sparta
Pericles was speaking at a funeral
ceremony for soldiers
Pericles had faced criticism for his
handling of the war and used the
speech to highlight positive
features of Athens, such as
democracy
Pericles started his speech by
praising Greek ancestors and
finished with a reminder that the
living would need to continue
fighting as a way to honor the dead
Lincoln – Gettysburg Address – Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 1863AD
USA was involved in a civil war,
North vs South
Lincoln was speaking at a funeral
ceremony for soldiers
Lincoln had faced criticism for his
handling of the war and used the
speech to highlight positive
features of America, such as
democracy
Lincoln started his speech by
praising American ancestors and
finished with a reminder that the
living would need to continue
fighting as a way to honor the dead
Each man would die within two years of delivering his speech

5. “government of the people, by the people, for the people,”
“our fathers brought forth … a new nation, ….dedicated to the proposition that all men were created equal”
“government of the people, by the people, for the people,”
“The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it … is for us, to be dedicated to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced that from these honored dead shall not have died in vain;”
Lincoln at Gettysburg -1863
“our ancestors, … have handed down from generation to generation,… a free state”
“Our form of government is a democracy, for the administration is in the hands of the many and not the few.”
“Any one can speak to you about the advantages of a brave defense, … instead of listening to him I would have you day by day fix your eyes upon the greatness of Athens, … reflect that this empire has been acquired by men who knew their duty and had the courage to do it.”
Pericles – Athens 431BC

6. “But they call me Honest Abe!”
What do you think?
WRITE ABOUT IT!
“But they call me Honest Abe!”
“He copied me!”

7. RAFT ASSIGNMENT ROLE AUDIENCE FORMAT TOPIC Lincoln Pericles
Apology/Explanation
Letter to Pericles either explaining/proving he did not copy or apologizing for copying (if you think he did.)
Complaint
Letter to Lincoln complaining about the use of Pericles ideas without permission
Historian
6th grade students
Textbook entry
Chapter in text that teaches about the two speeches and explains if Lincoln did or did not copy from Pericles.
Reporter
News paper readers
Editorial
Article in newspaper that explains the connection between the speeches and takes a stand for or against Lincoln and copying.
Politician
Voters
Speech
Speech on current topic that copies both Pericles and Lincoln
Poet
Poetry reader
Poem
Poem that covers one of the topics above – at least ten lines or 5 couplets
Choose one row on the chart above and complete the assignment.
Write from the point of view of the name in the “role “column.
Write to the name in the “audience” column.