Gettysburg Address

The Gettysburg Address is a short speech that President Abraham Lincoln gave on November 19, 1863. He gave it during the American Civil War, in the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The speech was only about two minutes long. It is now one of the most famous speeches in American history.

Four months earlier, Gettysburg had been the site of a huge battle. Union and Confederate armies fought there for three days in July 1863. About 50,000 soldiers were killed, wounded, or missing. That is more than fit inside many big sports stadiums today. The fields around the town were covered with graves.

Leaders decided to build a special cemetery for the Union soldiers who died there. They held a ceremony to dedicate it. The main speaker was Edward Everett, a famous public speaker of the time. Everett spoke for two hours. Then Lincoln stood up and read his speech from a single sheet of paper.

Lincoln's speech had only about 270 words. It began with a now famous line: "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." A "score" means twenty years. So "four score and seven" means 87. Lincoln was pointing back to 1776, when the country was founded.

Lincoln then said the Civil War was a test. He wanted to know if a country built on freedom and equality could survive. He said the soldiers who died at Gettysburg had given the "last full measure of devotion." He told the crowd that the living had to keep fighting for what those soldiers believed in. He ended with a promise that "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Right after the speech, some newspapers said it was a flop. Lincoln himself thought it had not gone well. But many others soon saw how powerful the short speech was. Edward Everett wrote to Lincoln the next day. He said Lincoln had said more in two minutes than he had said in two hours.

Today the Gettysburg Address is carved into the wall of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. American students still memorize it. The speech changed how many people thought about the war. Lincoln connected the fight to the words of the Declaration of Independence and the idea that all people are equal.