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Rhetorical Analysis: The American Civil War

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Lincoln uses the word "we" to talk about the whole nation, Southerners and Northerners. He uses the word "we" to say that both groups are the same and need to put their differences aside. They both fought in the war to settle their differences of slavery and the "opposing views on the issue of states’ rights." (The Boys' War, paragraph 1) But it is also destroying the nation. The text states, "Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure." (paragraph 2, sentence 1) This quote shows how the civil war that both Northerners and Southerners are fighting for the same cause, but the war is also a test to see if this nation is strong enough to push their differences

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