An Illustrated History of the USA

TheGettysburg Ad d r ess

Gettysbur g in Penn sylvan ia I S remem bered fo r

two things.T hefirs tis thebattlethatwas fought

thereinJuly186.3.The second is th e G etty sbur g

address. a speech that Abraham Lincoln made

therea fewmonthslat e r.

O n November 19. 1&J3, Linco ln tra veled to

G et t ysburg rod ed icate-partofthebat tle fieldasa

natio nalw arcem etery.T hisISparto f w hathesaid

when h e di d so:

"Fo u rscore and seven years ago ou r fat he r-s

b ro ug ht forth o n this cont inent a newnat ion ,

dedicated ro rh e proposirion rh:u all men arc

creat ed equa l.Nowweareengaged in a grea tcivil

war ,testi ngwhether th at natio ncanlo ngendu re.

We arcmet o n a g rea tbatt lefi eldo f thai war.We

h aveco me to dedicateJ portionofthat field asa

final resting-pl acetorthosewhoheregav etheir

lives,that thatnatio n mightlive.ButIIIa larg er

11 THECIVILW.\Jl

sen se, we cannotdedicat e,wecan notconsecrat e

th is g ro un d.T he bran 'm en .living:andd ead. who

struggled here,have consecratedit, faraboveour

poorpo w er.Theworldwill little not e.no r lon g

remember. what we say here.but it cannever

fo rgetw hattheydid here.Itislorus thelivin g to

resolve th atth esedead shallnothavedi ed in vain;

tlmrthis natio n ,underGod ,shallhavea n ewb irth

c f frccdom: andthatgovernmentofrhcpeople.by

thepeople,fo r thepeople. shall not perishfrom

rhi.. eart h. "

Lin coln ' s speechatGettysburgbecameevenmore

famou sth an th e battle.A t thetime it wasseenas

a sta tem ento fwhatth eNort hW;ISfightingfo r.

IIIlater years it came to be seenas a movmg

expression o f faith in the basic pr inciples of

d emo craticgo vern me nt.

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