Gettysburg Address 1863

What was the Gettysburg Address?

The Gettysburg Address was a speech made by President Abraham Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln President of United States of America

He made this speech at a dedication ceremony of Union soldiers who had fought in the Battle of Gettysburg in July, 1863.

The Union soldiers were able to defeat a Confederate army under General Robert E. Lee which was trying to invade Pennsylvania.

This victory proved very important for the Union and turned the tide in favor of the Union and against the Confederacy.

A lot of Union soldiers died while fighting against the Confederate army and a special dedication ceremony for these soldiers took place in November, 1863.

When and where did it take place?

The Gettysburg Address was made by President Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863. It was made at the Soldiers’ National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

What was the Address about?

The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln was basically meant to praise the brave Union soldiers who had fallen at the Battle of Gettysburg. But more importantly, Lincoln explained the principles of liberty, equality and humanity in his speech.

He explained why the Union armies were fighting this war and how the Union was trying to accomplish precisely what was vowed in the Declaration of Independence, which was agreed upon by all states when USA was born.

Due to the comprehensive message and profound wording of his speech, the Gettysburg Address became one of the most famous and most well-known speeches in the history of USA.

Famous Passages of 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 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 was the 16th president of the united States of American President Cooper Union Speech

Gettysburg Address Fast Facts

• Abraham Lincoln’s Famous speech to Union Soldiers was known as the ‘Gettysburg Address’.
• The Speech by Lincoln was made in honor of the Northern Union Forces victory at Gettysburg in the American Civil War.
• Union Forces were under the command of general Robert E.Lee.
• The Battle was an important turning point for the Union States forces in the American Civil war.
• As well as praising Union Soldiers Lincoln’s speech also honored the virtues of liberty, equality and humanity.
• One of the Most Famous and well known parts of the Gettysburg Speech is ‘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”.

Learn More About the Famous Speech By President Abraham Lincoln the Gettysburg Address at Wikipedia

Lincoln at Gettysburg – The Battle & The Address