Introduction Acrowd gathered in a field outside the small town of Gettysburg Pennsylvania on a chilly afternoon in November 1863 Four months earlier Gettysburg had seen one of the fiercest battles of the American Civil War 1861 1865 Two years before that the country had split into the proslavery South and the antislavery North The nation was now at war On July 1 1863 General Robert E Lee had led the Confederate forces of the South to Gettysburg to confront Union forces in the North After three days Union soldiers under General George Meade drove Lee’s troops back About 50,000 soldiers from both sides were casualties killed wounded captured or missing An estimated 3,155 Union soldiers and 4,708 Confederate soldiers lay dead The dead bodies would decay quickly in the summer heat so the soldiers were hastily buried in graves in the surrounding countryside Pennsylvania’s governor set aside land for an official cemetery at Gettysburg where the Union soldiers could be reburied with honor and ceremony After the war most of the Confederate dead were reburied in the South Crowds gathered for the cemetery’s dedication on November 19 Famous speechmaker Edward Everett was to be the main speaker and an additional guest was invited to share his thoughts President Abraham Lincoln Everett spoke first A gifted orator he used beautiful turns of phrase at Gettysburg to speak for two hours about poetry and history The crowd listened in silence some people moved to tears 6
In 1863 the United States was in the midst of a bitter civil war Dead soldiers cover this battlefield at Gettysburg Pennsylvania in July Lincoln’s Speech Then Lincoln stepped up to the podium He had carefully crafted his speech writing and rewriting it over several days In contrast to Everett Lincoln spoke for only two minutes His words were heartfelt for he had visited many battlefields met many soldiers and seen death and destruction in his own life The struggles tearing apart the nation hurt him deeply He appealed to the crowd’s patriotism and provided reassurance that the prolonged conflict was serving a meaningful cause worth suffering for Delivering what is known as the Gettysburg Address Lincoln began by reminding the crowd that their ancestors had created a new country only fourscore and seven years ago or eighty-seven years ago Lincoln was referring to 1776 when the founders of the United States had signed the Declaration of Independence 7
Among other things the document offered a promise that in the new nation all men are created equal Now Lincoln said Americans were fighting to see if a nation based on the ideals of liberty and equality could survive He told the audience 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 these soldiers did here It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us 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 Lincoln’s speech which was printed in newspapers around the country solidified Union support for the war and renewed hope that the nation could come together again and heal its wounds Everett sent a letter of praise to Lincoln saying I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes The World Takes Note Lincoln said at Gettysburg that the world wouldn’t note his words He was wrong In a eulogy for Lincoln after the president’s death in 1865 Senator Charles Sumner recalled the president’s speech The world noted at once what he said and will never cease to remember it the senator said The battle itself was less important than the speech More than 150 years later Lincoln’s speech remains one of the most famous examples of American oratory and schoolchildren still study it 8
President Abraham Lincoln delivers his Gettysburg Address on November 19 1863 The man who spoke the powerful words at Gettysburg had been president for two and a half years Lincoln had risen from a poor background to become the leader of the country during one of its most trying times He would live for only a year and a half after the speech An assassin’s bullet cut his life short on April 14,1865 just five days after the South surrendered and only shortly after Lincoln had begun his second term as president First sworn in as president in 1861 Lincoln would steer the country in a new direction toward the new birth of freedom for all Americans as he had spoken of at Gettysburg Fighting to hold the country together he used presidential powers as no president had before Future wartime presidents would look to the examples he set His policies would help connect Americans and lead to unprecedented growth of the United States Under his leadership as Lincoln had said at Gettysburg democracy would not perish from the earth 9
