An Analysis of President Lincoln's “Gettysburg Address” The initial proposal that President Lincoln included in the Gettysburg Address was to follow up on the commitment of the founding fathers according to where all men are created equal. In the speech, Lincoln defines the importance of the Founding Fathers' original intent to define all men as "equal," which Lincoln was expanding in terms of the issue of slavery: "Four score and seven years ago our fathers produced upon this continent a new nation, conceived in freedom and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” (Lincoln par.1). In this way, Lincoln intended to introduce the proposition that black men also have the right to equality like him white men termsThis form of brevity allowed Lincoln to have a much simpler and more direct impact on his audience, especially if he promoted a “mediocre” version of why the war was being fought in the “talk of lawyers, popular preachers and newspapers.” (Conant, 2015, p.158). This is one of the reasons why Lincoln's speech was deliberately short, as he wanted to use the language of professionals and preachers, but not without the common language of the newspapers to inspire the less educated members of his society. public. This was an intentionally conscious form of speech writing, that Lincoln used a scientific measure for his wording, that would influence and inspire the audience to fight for the cause of equality and freedom. This part of Lincoln's “rhetorical situation” required that he define the meaning of the Civil War as part of the valiant struggle for the equality of all men, fought by many members of the lower classes who served in the Union army. In this way, Lincoln had to appeal to the upper, middle, and lower classes who heard this historic speech in Douglas, of course, was a former slave who had learned to read and write in his time, which was not too dissimilar from Lincoln's background as a “rail-breaker” who had taught himself to read and write as a young man. The Gettysburg Address presents the proposal of equality for all men, which is based on the historical roots of the Founding Fathers. Douglass also uses the premise of equality in “What is the Fourth of July to the Slave?” speech from 1852: “Do you want me to maintain that man has the right to freedom? Who is the rightful owner of his own body? You have already stated this (Douglass par.59). This is one way Douglass infers a historical basis for the freedom of all men, such as African Americans, which is also a precedent used by Lincoln “score and seven years ago” in the Gettysburg Address. These similarities define a conscious intention to reinforce the Founding Fathers' meaning of “equality” as a premise for the liberation of slaves. President Lincoln and Frederick Douglass are linked through the general proposition of equality for all men, not just white men. In essence, the premise of equality and freedom for all men is one of the main foundations of the Gettysburg Address, which sought to sanctify the sacrifice of Union soldiers in the cause of freedom.