Lincoln's message in this speech is that

a) although a terrible tragedy has occurred, those who remain alive should carry on the cause for which the soldiers died.

b) the united states was 87 years old at the time of the speech.

c) there was a great civil war being fought in this country.

d) that gettysburg was a great battlefield in a great war

A) although a terrible tragedy has occurred, those who remain alive should carry on the cause for which the soldiers died.

Explanation:

Lincoln's message in the Gettysburg Address is that although a terrible tragedy has occurred, those who remain alive should carry on the cause for which the soldiers died. President Lincoln offered his Gettysburg Address to state that the soldiers that are buried in that cemetery made the place sacred because they gave their lives in the war. Although it is true that the United States was 87 years old it is not the most important message of the speech. There was a great civil war being fought in this country is not was the message that he is trying to convey. He is consecrating the cemetery to those soldiers who gave their lives in battle.

the rhetorical technique most used in this excerpt is parallelism. parallelism is a technique which author used in sentence as substitute of repeated synthetical similarities. it is the effect of rhetorical technique.

explanation:

every four years the american people choose a new president, and 1988 is one of those years."