The Gettysburg Address

The Gettysburg Address is one of the most lyrical speeches ever given in the noblest form of writing. The great author and spokesman of this speech was our very own Abraham Lincoln. On November 19, 1863 Abraham gave this noble speech to commemorate those who had fallen during the Civil War at the Battle of Gettysburg. The appropriate place where this great speech was given was in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, at the presentation for the memory of the Gettysburg National Cemetery. The speech has often been called an American myth. The most famous myth being that our president at the time, Abraham Lincoln actually wrote that speech on the back of an envelope. The truth side to this story is that Abraham Lincoln actually wrote two drafts of this speech and at the time of speaking, he winged it and modified it while giving his speech. The speech he gave goes as follows:

“Fourscore 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 cannot dedicate-we cannot consecrate-we cannot 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.”

This brief speech basically tells the world that we as great nation, created for liberty is being tested. It states that this great battle ground is now being dedicated as a resting place for those who served in this great battle and perished. Those who died in devotion to their country and that they have not died in vain. Basically, little note will this memorial become, and that for those men who kept on going helped that much to the demonstration that America is a nation that will long live.

Source:

“Gettysburg Address,” Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007
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