The Gettysburg Address is a speech by Abraham Lincoln and one of the most quoted speeches in United
States history. It was delivered at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, during the American Civil War, four and
a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the decisive Battle of
Gettysburg.

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 invoked
the principles of human equality espoused by the Declaration of Independence and redefined the Civil War
as a struggle not merely for the Union, but as "a new birth of freedom" that would bring true equality to all
of its citizens, and that would also create a unified nation in which states' rights were no longer dominant.

Beginning with the now-iconic phrase "Four score and seven years ago...", Lincoln referred to the events
of the Civil War and described the ceremony at Gettysburg as an opportunity not only to consecrate the
grounds of a cemetery, but also to dedicate the living to the struggle to ensure that "government of the
people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth".
"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."
Sketch Notes
Bookmark and Share
Information
Copied From
Wikipedia
Note:

Thanks for visiting Sketch Notes--just can't hide the pride I have
in this country.

I'm on vacation right now--or rather a sabbatical of sorts, after
working very hard to get my second novel ready for publishing.

I hope you all have a great summer, remember to take time to
relax and enjoy your families, and remember our many blessings.
I know I appreciate all of you!

Sketch Notes will be back in September with renewed vigor!

--Leann