In "the gettysburg address," president lincoln argues that all those who have come to
gettysburg to dedicate the cemetery there cannot "consecrate" or "hallow" the ground. that is,
neither he nor anyone else can confer honor upon this place.
is lincoln's reasoning in support of this argument sound?
yes, because he then notes that the courageous sacrifices of those who died there
have already made gettysburg a place of honor and solemn respect.
yes, because he points out that to make gettysburg an honored place would be to
celebrate the awful violence and destruction of war.
no, because he later states that gettysburg was already viewed as a sanctified or holy
place long before the battle was fought there.
no, because he ultimately asserts that his speech remembering those who died at
gettysburg will turn the battlefield into a shrine

The answer is indeed letter A) Yes, because he then notes that the courageous sacrifices of those who died there have already made Gettysburg a place of honor and solemn respect.

Explanation:

As we know, President Abraham Lincoln delivered the speech now known as the Gettysburg Address in November 19, 1863 in a battlefield near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Even though it was a short speech, Lincoln conveys a most significant message: the United States of America is a nation founded on the ideal of equality and liberty, and its future should have those corner stones as a beacon. When referring to the battlefield in Gettysburg, President Lincoln states that, even though they are there to dedicate that ground to those who died, they cannot consecrate it. Those soldiers' death, their sacrifice, was already a consecration far beyond any that the living standing there could ever fathom. They, the living, should from then on work hard to make sure the soldiers' sacrifice was not in vain. The excerpt is below:

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- 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.