The Gettysburg Address

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
November 19, 1863

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.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

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.

Background for Understanding

The battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, fought in July 1863, was an important Union victory and marked a turning point in the war. More than 51,000 soldiers were casualties in the battle. On November 19, 1863, a military cemetery on the battlefield was dedicated. Unsure of President Lincoln’s availability, the dedication organizers slated him as a secondary speaker, asking him to make only “a few appropriate remarks.” In drafting that brief address, Lincoln wanted to lead the 15,000 American citizens at the cemetery dedication through an emotional final rite of passage. He also needed to gain continuing support for a bloody conflict that was far from won.

Stories abound regarding Lincoln’s drafting of the speech: He wrote it the week before; he wrote it the night before; he wrote it on the train; he wrote it on a scrap of paper. Certainly, he was still revising even as he spoke, adding the phrase “under God” to describe the nation. An experienced speaker, Lincoln probably anticipated the positive effect this suggestion of divine approval of the United States and its goals of freedom would have on the audience.