The Gettysburg Address Delivered at the dedication of the Soldiers

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Transcript The Gettysburg Address Delivered at the dedication of the Soldiers

The Gettysburg Address
15,000 spectators were in attendance
Abraham Lincoln
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Leader of the Republican Party in 1860
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Becomes the 16th President of the United
States receiving 40% of the popular vote
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Southerners called him the “Black Republican”
for fears that he would abolish slavery and end
the ‘Southern way of life”
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the southern states seceded in response to his
election
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Lincoln stated at the beginning of the conflict
that his intention was to preserve the union,
not end slavery
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The Emancipation Proclamation and this
address begins the movement towards the end
of slavery in America
Historical Context
Battle of Gettysburg
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Battle was July 1-July 3,. 1863 in Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania
Approximately:
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163,000 soldiers fought the battle
over 7,500 were killed
27,000 were wounded
11,100 were captured or missing
The southern forces were defeated
Total casualties of the War to this time 472,154
This battle alone had 51,000 casualties
Gettysburg Address
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On November 19, 1863, 4
months after the Battle of
Gettysburg, 15,000 people
gathered at the battlefield to
dedicate a portion of it as the
Soldiers’ National Cemetery
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The Keynote Speaker was a
Edwin Everett, the best orator
of his day.
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He spoke for over 2 hours and
wowed the crowd with his words
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Lincoln spoke after Everett.
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His address was a 271 word
speech lasting about 2 minutes
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.”
The Gettysburg Address (1863)
Main Points:
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It is time we talk about the promise of equality.
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“…a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created equal”
We honor the soldiers sacrifice.
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Abraham Lincoln
“The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but
it can never forget what they did here.”
“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining
before us”
The Union is worth fighting for.
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“—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 parish from the earth.”
Monument on the Spot of Lincoln’s Address
Soldiers’ National Cemetery
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania