The Gettysburg Address: November 19, 1863
The Gettysburg
Address is a speech by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, considered one of the best-known in American history. It was delivered by Lincoln during the American Civil War, on the
afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, four and a half months
after the Union armies defeated those of the
Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg.
Beginning with the
now-iconic phrase "Four score and seven
years ago," referring to the Declaration of
Independence during
the American Revolution in 1776, Lincoln examined the founding
principles of the United States in the context of the Civil War, and
memorialized the sacrifices of those who gave their lives at Gettysburg and
extolled virtues for the listeners (and the nation) to ensure the survival of
America's representative democracy, that the "government of the people, by
the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
The only confirmed photo of Abraham Lincoln (circled) at Gettysburg, taken about noon, just after Lincoln arrived and some three hours before the speech. To Lincoln's right is his bodyguard, Ward Hill Lamon |
Abraham Lincoln's carefully crafted
address, secondary to other presentations that day, came to be regarded as one
of the greatest speeches in American history. In just over two
minutes, Lincoln reiterated the principles of human equality espoused by the Declaration of
Independence and
proclaimed the Civil War as a struggle for the preservation of the Union
sundered by the secession crisis, with "a new birth of freedom," that would bring true equality to all of its citizens, ensuring that democracy
would remain a viable form of government and creating a nation in which rights were no longer dominant.
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