The Gettysburg Address

A few months after the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, US president Abraham Lincoln gave a speech at the battlefield cemetery. He reminded his audience that some 87 years earlier, the American Declaration of Independence had committed the newly sovereign state to the equality of all people, and said that the Civil War was putting that principle to the test.

President Lincoln went on to say that the work of ridding the country of slavery and restoring its constitutional commitment to popular government was not yet finished, and that it fell to everyone present to ensure that the sacrifice made by the thousands who had died at Gettysburg had not been made in vain.

112 words

Read the whole story

Return to the Index

Tags

American Civil War (8) Battle of Gettysburg (2) Abraham Lincoln (4) The USA (14) American Literature (16) The United States of America (19) History of the USA (19) Abolition of Slavery (26) Victorian Era (106) Modern History (268) History (777)

Related Posts

for The Gettysburg Address

American Civil War

‘If They Can Stand It I Can’

However loud his critics shouted their disapproval, Abraham Lincoln would neither deprive them of free speech nor change his opinions.

by Abraham Lincoln 1809-1865

American Civil War

A Letter to the President

Two years into America’s Civil War, cotton workers in Manchester defied current opinion among politicians and the press, and pledged their support to the Union.

by Manchester Cotton Workers 1863

American Civil War

Sublime Christian Heroism

In replying to a letter of support from Manchester’s cotton workers, US President Lincoln showed how deeply touched he had been.

by Abraham Lincoln 1809-1865

American Civil War

The Battle of Gettysburg

Two years into the American Civil War, the Union army responded to a dispiriting defeat at Chancellorsville with a decisive and historic victory at Gettysburg.

by D. H. Montgomery 1837-1928