The Gettysburg Address, 1863
A Spotlight on a Primary Source by Abraham Lincoln
On November 19, 1863, four months after the Battle of Gettysburg, a
ceremony was held at the site in Pennsylvania to dedicate a cemetery for the
Union dead. The battle had been a Union victory, but at great cost—about
23,000 Union casualties and 23,000 Confederate (a total of nearly 8,000
killed, 27,000 wounded, and 11,000 missing). At the cemetery dedication in
November 1863, the day’s speakers found themselves tasked with finding the
right words to commemorate those who had perished in the bloodiest battle
of the Civil War.
The main speaker was Edward Everett, a former US senator, governor of
Massachusetts, and president of Harvard. President Lincoln had been invited
to make a "few appropriate remarks" at the cemetery’s consecration. Some
15,000 people heard his speech.
Less than 275 words in length, Lincoln’s three-minute-long Gettysburg
Address defined the meaning of the Civil War. Drawing upon the biblical
concepts of suffering, consecration, and resurrection, he described the war as
a momentous chapter in the global struggle for self-government, liberty, and
equality. Lincoln told the crowd that the nation would "have a new birth of
freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people
shall not perish from the earth." He stated that the Union had to remain
dedicated to "to the great task remaining before us" with "increased devotion
to that cause for which" the dead had given "the last full measure of
devotion."
In his short address, Lincoln honored the fallen dead and framed those
soldiers’ sacrifices and the war itself as necessary to the survival of the
nation. The copy of the address printed here has textual errors that indicate it
is a very early printing.
EXCERPT
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 battlefield 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.
Questions for Discussion
Read the document introduction and transcript and apply your knowledge of
American history as well as evidence from the document in order to answer these
questions.
1. Besides the fact that he was asked to make a “few appropriate
remarks,” why do you think that President Lincoln limited himself to so
few words? To what extent do you think this has an effect?
2. How does Lincoln use the ideals of the Founding generation to support
the continuation of the Civil War?
3. According to President Lincoln, what obligations remained for
Americans to fulfill?
4. How does Lincoln acknowledge the ultimate sacrifice of the soldiers who
died on the battlefield at Gettysburg?
What was the summary of the Gettysburg Address?
Less than 275 words in length, Lincoln's three-minute-long Gettysburg
Address defined the meaning of the Civil War. Drawing upon the biblical concepts
of suffering, consecration, and resurrection, he described the war as a momentous
chapter in the global struggle for self- government, liberty, and equality.
What best summarizes the Gettysburg Address?
Equality of all people is the principle best summarized in Lincoln's Gettysburg
address. Lincoln suggests that the Union must win, to continue to exist as a
democracy for all people.
What was Lincoln's main focus in the Gettysburg Address?
In it, he invoked the principles of human equality contained in the Declaration of
Independence and connected the sacrifices of the Civil War with the desire for “a
new birth of freedom,” as well as the all-important preservation of the Union
created in 1776 and its ideal of self-government.
What was Lincoln's main goal in the Gettysburg Address?
In its immediate context, the Gettysburg Address was meant to help dedicate the
Cemetery at Gettysburg. More generally, Lincoln took up the question: what is the
cause for which Union soldiers have fought and died at Gettysburg and throughout
the Civil War?
Why is the Gettysburg Address so famous?
Lincoln's address tied the suffering of the soldiers who had died, and the civilians
who had lost their families, to a sense of the meaning of American democracy. The
speech called not just for military victory but also for a new birth of freedom.
What does Lincoln mean by a new birth of freedom?
Lincoln described the Civil War as a struggle for "a new birth of freedom"--his
vision for a nation that provides equality for all of its citizens, creates a unified
nation no longer dominated by states' rights, and defines democracy in terms of
“government of the people, by the people, for the people.”
