Lincoln at Gettysburg

LINCOLN 'S GETTYSBURG ADDRESS

Introduction

Perhaps the most famous battle of the Civil War took place at Gettysburg , PA , July 1 to July 3 , 1863 . At the end of the battle , the Union 's Army of the Potomac had successfully repelled the second invasion of the North by the Confederacy 's Army of Northern Virginia Several months later , President Abraham Lincoln went to Gettysburg to speak at the dedication of the cemetery for the Union war dead . Speaking of a "new birth of freedom " he delivered one of the most memorable

speeches in U .S . history

At the end of the Battle of Gettysburg , more than 51 ,000 Confederate and Union soldiers were wounded , missing , or dead . Many of those who died were laid in makeshift graves along the battlefield . Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin commissioned David Wills , an attorney , to purchase land for a proper burial site for the deceased Union soldiers Wills acquired 17 acres for the cemetery , which was planned and designed by landscape architect William Saunders

The cemetery was dedicated on November 19 , 1863 . The main speaker for the event was Edward Everett , one of the nation 's foremost orators President Lincoln was also invited to speak as Chief Executive of the nation , formally [to] set apart these grounds to their sacred use by a few appropriate remarks . At the ceremony , Everett spoke for more than 2 hours Lincoln spoke for 2 minutes

President Lincoln had given his brief speech a lot of thought . He saw meaning in the fact that the Union victory at Gettysburg coincided with the nations birthday but rather than focus on the specific battle in his remarks , he wanted to present a broad statement about the larger significance of the war . He invoked the Declaration of Independence , and its principles of liberty and equality , and he spoke of a new birth of freedom for the nation . In his brief address , he continued to reshape the aims of the war for the American people transforming it from a war for Union to a war for Union and freedom . Although Lincoln expressed disappointment in the speech initially , it has come to be regarded as one of the most elegant and eloquent speeches in U .S . history

Gettysburg Address . Executive Mansion Transcript , Washington , 1863

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth , upon 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 it , as a final resting place for those who died here , that the nation might live . This we may , in all propriety do . But , in a larger sense , we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow , this ground-- The brave men , living...