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| | [[Image:Lincoln at Gettysburg.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Abraham Lincoln (center) at the dedication of the national cemetery at Gettysburg, November 19, 1863.]] | | [[Image:Lincoln at Gettysburg.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Abraham Lincoln (center) at the dedication of the national cemetery at Gettysburg, November 19, 1863.]] |
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| | + | The Gettysburg Address is short speech by [[Abraham Lincoln]] which took its most famous expressions from the [[Bible]], without giving it credit. Its opening line -- fourscore and seven years ago -- is a play on the biblical expression about how the lifespan of an average person is threescore and ten years: "The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away."<ref>Psalm 90:10 (KJV)</ref> The famous conclusion in the Gettysburg Address is a paraphrase of the General Prologue to the first English translation of the Bible by John Wycliffe (1384): "This Bible is for the Government of the People, by the People, and for the People." |
| | + | == Background == |
| | At the end of the [[Battle of Gettysburg]], more than 51,000 Confederate and Union soldiers were wounded, missing, or dead. Many of those who died were laid in makeshift graves along the battlefield. Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin commissioned David Wills, an attorney, to purchase land for a proper burial site for the deceased Union soldiers. Wills acquired 17 acres for the cemetery, which was planned and designed by landscape architect William Saunders. | | At the end of the [[Battle of Gettysburg]], more than 51,000 Confederate and Union soldiers were wounded, missing, or dead. Many of those who died were laid in makeshift graves along the battlefield. Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin commissioned David Wills, an attorney, to purchase land for a proper burial site for the deceased Union soldiers. Wills acquired 17 acres for the cemetery, which was planned and designed by landscape architect William Saunders. |
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| | The cemetery was dedicated on November 19, 1863. The main speaker for the event was [[Edward Everett's Gettysburg Oration|Edward Everett]], one of the nation’s foremost orators. President [[Abraham Lincoln]] was also invited to speak “as Chief Executive of the nation, formally [to] set apart these grounds to their sacred use by a few appropriate remarks.” At the ceremony, Everett spoke for more than 2 hours; Lincoln spoke for 2 minutes. | | The cemetery was dedicated on November 19, 1863. The main speaker for the event was [[Edward Everett's Gettysburg Oration|Edward Everett]], one of the nation’s foremost orators. President [[Abraham Lincoln]] was also invited to speak “as Chief Executive of the nation, formally [to] set apart these grounds to their sacred use by a few appropriate remarks.” At the ceremony, Everett spoke for more than 2 hours; Lincoln spoke for 2 minutes. |
| − | | + | == Lincoln's preparation of speech == |
| | President Lincoln had given his brief speech a lot of thought. He saw meaning in the fact that the Union victory at Gettysburg coincided with the nation’s birthday; but rather than focus on the specific battle in his remarks, he wanted to present a broad statement about the larger significance of the war. He invoked the [[Declaration of Independence]], and its principles of liberty and equality, and he spoke of “a new birth of freedom” for the nation. In his brief address, he continued to reshape the aims of the war for the American people—transforming it from a war for Union to a war for Union and freedom. Although Lincoln expressed disappointment in the speech initially, and it was poorly received nationally (The ''Chicago Times'' commented that "The cheek of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat and dishwatery utterances") it has since come to be regarded as one of the most elegant and eloquent speeches in U.S. history.<ref>Bill Bryson, Made in America (London 1994) p96</ref> | | President Lincoln had given his brief speech a lot of thought. He saw meaning in the fact that the Union victory at Gettysburg coincided with the nation’s birthday; but rather than focus on the specific battle in his remarks, he wanted to present a broad statement about the larger significance of the war. He invoked the [[Declaration of Independence]], and its principles of liberty and equality, and he spoke of “a new birth of freedom” for the nation. In his brief address, he continued to reshape the aims of the war for the American people—transforming it from a war for Union to a war for Union and freedom. Although Lincoln expressed disappointment in the speech initially, and it was poorly received nationally (The ''Chicago Times'' commented that "The cheek of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat and dishwatery utterances") it has since come to be regarded as one of the most elegant and eloquent speeches in U.S. history.<ref>Bill Bryson, Made in America (London 1994) p96</ref> |
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| + | == The Speech == |
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| | '''''"Four score 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.'''''<ref>The text above is from the so-called "Bliss Copy," which is believed to be the final version after [[Abraham Lincoln]] edited it on the train to [[Gettysburg]]. [http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm]</ref> | | '''''"Four score 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.'''''<ref>The text above is from the so-called "Bliss Copy," which is believed to be the final version after [[Abraham Lincoln]] edited it on the train to [[Gettysburg]]. [http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm]</ref> |
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