Lincolns Gettysburg Address Speech Text Meaning

The Gettysburg Address:

-------

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.

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 can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

-------

Background.

Abraham Lincoln's "few appropriate remarks" were said at the dedication of the new Union cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on November 19, 1863. They have long been regarded as one of the great discoursees, in American History.

As historically significant, as Lincoln's Gettysburg address would become, there still remains much disagreement among scholars as to its exact wording. Contemporary transcriptions, published in newspaper accounts of the event, and even copies handwritten by Lincoln himself differ. They are differences in their wording, punctuation, and structure.

Different manuscripts.

There are five known manuscript copies of the Gettysburg Address. Two of these manuscripts, which were eventually given by Lincoln, to each of his two private secretaries, John Nicolay and John Hay.

They were written around the time of his November 19th address, while the other three copies of the address were written by Lincoln for charitable purposes well after November 19th. The five known manuscript copies are as follows:

make extra money online

The Nicolay Copy.

This copy, which Lincoln gave to his private secretary John Nicolay, is often called the "first draft" because it is believed to be the earliest copy that exists.
The Hay Copy.

With its existence first announced to the public in 1906, this version was described by Pulitzer Prize winning author Gary Wills as "the most inexplicable of the five copies Lincoln made."
The Everett Copy.

This copy was sent by President Lincoln at the request of Edward Everett, the orator who spoke at Gettysburg for two hours prior to Lincoln.
The Bancroft Copy.

This manuscript of the Gettysburg Address was written out by President Lincoln in April, 1864 at the request of George Bancroft, the most famous historian of his day.
The Bliss Copy.

Discovering that his fourth written copy intended for George Bancroft's "Autograph Leaves" could not be used, Mr. Lincoln wrote a fifth draft, which was accepted for the purpose requested.

Lincolns Gettysburg Address Speech Text Meaning