-Trying to finish a paper late night need some input on my opening
paragraph.  Please grammer/spell check along with any other criticism.
 I'd also like for you to respond to this and tell me what you think
the paper is about.

?Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this
continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created equal....?
Abraham Lincoln 
The Gettysburg Address
November 19, 1863

As President Lincoln spoke the last five words of his first sentence
during The Gettysburg Address he set things in motion that would
forever change the face of the United States.  With careful speech
that surmounted any boundary of race or ethnicity, and a tone that
spoke to everyone Lincoln successfully not only changed the way the
U.S. Constitution was viewed, but the way people viewed the United
States. With those 272 words Lincoln managed to sooth a nation that
was dying from the inside and turn the tide of a war.  Along with his
address, he changed the view of the past into something people could
embrace as a new beginning.  The Gettysburg Address challenged the way
people looked at life.  The ideas of transcendentalism that Lincoln
instilled through it were so subtle that one scarce not recognizes
they are there at all.  There are many different cultural elements
that influenced The Gettysburg Address including the elements that
were in direct effect of the war and everything that surrounded the
war.  The Gettysburg Address changed the view of the war from ?messy
squabbles over constitutionality, sectionalism, property, and state? 
into something far more abstract; a view that considered the war a
struggle for freedom, a struggle for democracy, and a view that took a
new face to the words of the U.S. Constitution by looking past words
and into their meanings.

As President Lincoln spoke the last five words of his first sentence
during The Gettysburg Address, he initiated permanent changes to the
character of the United States.  With careful speech that appealed to
everyone regardless of their ethnicity, Lincoln transformed both the
way citizens viewed the Constitution and how they felt about the
United States.  With those 272 words, Lincoln soothed a nation dying
from internal hemorrhaging and turned the tide of the war.  Through
his address, he transformed the abstract ideals of the past into
something people could embrace as the foundation for new beginning. 
The Gettysburg Address challenged people to look at life differently.
It altered citizens' outlook on the war from ?messy squabbles over
constitutionality, sectionalism, property, and state? into something
far more intangible: a struggle for the freedom and democracy
enshrined in the words of the U.S. Constitution.

Many different cultural elements influenced The Gettysburg Address,
including some that arose as a direct effect of the war and its
surrounding issues.  Lincoln subtly instilled transcendentalist ideas
through his speech that they are difficult to discern, but they
nonetheless had an impact.  (Continue with supporting facts)

Based on the paragraph, I expect you will describe how people viewed
the war and the country both before and after the speech.  I would
also expect you to provide supporting evidence for "transcendentalist
ideas" that are present in the speech.

I noticed several instances of redundancy, such as "race and
ethnicity."  Several sentences were written in the passive voice.  The
paragraph also suffered from wordiness that created overly complex
sentences.  I also found opportunities to use a more varied vocabulary
instead of repeating "view."  Furthermore, I noticed a few missing
commas.

Finally, you really have two paragraphs here.  I have reordered the
material and split it where a second complete idea is discussed.

I believe the introduction captures the reader's interest and is more effective.

Best of luck with your paper.

Sincerely,

Wonko