lincoln delivered the gettysburg address to

This speech was given at the dedication ceremony for the Soldiers National Cemetery in. He paid tribute to the soldiers who had fought at Gettysburg, emphasizing that their sacrifices had already consecrated the ground “far above our power to add or detract.”įinally, Lincoln stated the purpose of the Union’s efforts: “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, 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. The Gettysburg Address (1863) Constitution Center Address 525 Arch Street Philadelphia, PA 19106 215.409. Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863, during the American Civil War. The president began by reminding his audience of the Founding Fathers’ vision of a nation “dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” He then turned to the Civil War, which, he noted, was testing the endurance of those American ideals. By the time Lincoln approached the podium, the crowd had heard for two hours from Edward Everett, a widely admired orator. Ample evidence exists that he had begun to write it well before he boarded his train.

His speech is revered as one of the greatest in American history, yet until Josephine Cobb looked closer at that Mathew Brady photo in 1952, it was thought that no photo existed of the Great Emancipator at Gettysburg on the day he delivered that address. Scholars debunk the notion that Lincoln scribbled his speech on the back of an envelope en route to Gettysburg. Lincoln delivered his famous speech 147 years ago today.

Lincoln delivered the gettysburg address to