The Gettysburg Address

What Was the Gettysburg Address?

The Gettysburg Address is the most famous speech written by President Abraham Lincoln. The address itself is brief and carefully crafted, being ~ 272 words long. President Lincoln had been asked to give “a few appropriate remarks” during the dedication of the Soldier’s National Cemetery, which has since been renamed to Gettysburg National Cemetery.

Despite its fame, the speech was not considered to be the primary speech delivered that day, a role that was filled by one of the most famed orators of the day, who spoke for over two hours.

When Was The Address Delivered?

The Gettysburg Address was delivered on the afternoon of November 19th, 1863, about four and a half months after the battle of Gettysburg. It is highly likely that President Lincoln was suffering from the early stages of a mild case of smallpox when he delivered the address.

The dedication took place during the lengthy process of reburying fallen Union soldiers from their hasty graves on the battlefield to more permanent graves in the National Cemetery.

What Does the Gettysburg Address Say?

It is ironic that the exact wording of one of the most famous American speeches is disputed. There are five different manuscripts of the speech that we know of that were penned by Lincoln’s hand, each slightly different.

The following text comes from the Bliss Copy, the last known copy of the address written by Lincoln, which is currently on display in the Lincoln Room of the White House:

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.

Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863

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