THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS
BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN
President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was famously
born in a one-room log cabin on the western frontier of
Kentucky. He was largely self-educated and
managed to build a successful practice as a lawyer
before entering politics. Lincoln’s election to the
presidency in 1860 prompted the secession of seven
states, setting in motion the events leading to the Civil
War. Lincoln’s famous speech at the commemoration
of a cemetery has been enshrined at Oxford University
as one of the finest examples of English language
rhetoric.