Gettysburg Address
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The Gettysburg Address at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
The Gettysburg Address is a speech by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. It was delivered at the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on November 19, 1863, during the American Civil War, about four months after the North defeated the South at the Battle of Gettysburg.
[edit] The speech
These are the actual words to the Gettysburg Address:
- 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.
[edit] What the Gettysburg Address means
This is a simple version of the Gettysburg Address:
- Eighty-seven (87) years ago, the European settlers on this continent created a new nation, created in liberty, and dedicated to the idea that all people are created equal.
- At this time, our country is involved in a big internal war, which is testing whether this nation (or any other nation which claims to have the same ideals that we do) can last very long. A great battle of that war occurred in the area where we are meeting here today. We are here to dedicate a part of it as a cemetery for the soldiers who died so that our nation could continue to live. It is right and good for us to do this.
- But, when you think about it, we cannot dedicate or bless this ground. The brave people, living and dead, who fought here, have already blessed this place more than we are able to. The world will not care about or remember what we say here, but it will never forget what they did here.
- Instead, it is the job of us who are still alive to support the unfinished work which those who fought here honorably continued. Here, inspired by their example, we must dedicate ourselves to keeping the ideals this nation began with.
- We resolve:
- that our soldiers shall not have died in vain
- that our nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and
- that our government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not vanish from this earth