Global InformationGettysburg Address information
| Part of the Eastern theater of the American Civil War | |
 One of only two confirmed photos of Lincoln[1][2][3] (center, facing camera) at Gettysburg taken about noon on November 19, 1863; Lincoln spoke some three hours later. To Lincoln's right is Ward Hill Lamon, his bodyguard. | |
| Date | November 19, 1863 |
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16th President of the United States
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The Gettysburg Address is a speech that U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered during the American Civil War at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery, now known as Gettysburg National Cemetery, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on the afternoon of November 19, 1863, four and a half months after the Union armies defeated Confederate forces in the Battle of Gettysburg, the Civil War's deadliest battle. It remains one of the best-known speeches in American history.[4][5]
Lincoln's carefully crafted and brief address, which was not scheduled as the day's primary speech, came to be seen as one of the greatest and most influential statements on the American national purpose. In just 271 words, beginning with the now famous phrase "Four score and seven years ago", referring to the signing of the Declaration of Independence 87 years earlier,[6] Lincoln described the U.S. as a nation "conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal", and represented the Civil War as a test that would determine whether such a nation could endure. Lincoln extolled the sacrifices of those who died at Gettysburg in defense of those principles, and then urged that the nation ensure:
[...] that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom[7]—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.[8][9]
Despite the prominent place of the speech in the history and popular culture of the United States, its exact wording is disputed. The five known manuscripts of the Gettysburg Address in Lincoln's hand differ in a number of details, and also differ from contemporary newspaper reprints of the speech. Nor is it precisely clear where on the grounds of the Gettysburg cemetery Lincoln delivered the address. Modern scholarship locates the speakers' platform at least 120 feet (37 m) away from the traditional site in Soldiers' National Cemetery at the Soldiers' National Monument, such that it stood entirely within the private, adjacent Evergreen Cemetery. A 2022 interpretation of photographs of the day, using 3D modeling software, has argued for a slightly different location—straddling the current fence around Evergreen Cemetery.[10]
- ^ "Ultrarare photo of Abraham Lincoln discovered". Fox News. September 24, 2013. Archived from the original on September 25, 2013. Retrieved September 25, 2013.
- ^ Lidz, Franz (October 2013). "Will the Real Abraham Lincoln Please Stand Up?". Smithsonian. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
- ^ Brian, Wolly (October 2013). "Interactive: Seeking Abraham Lincoln at the Gettysburg Address". Smithsonian. Archived from the original on September 29, 2013. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
- ^ Conant, Sean (2015). The Gettysburg Address: Perspectives on Lincoln's Greatest Speech. New York: Oxford University Press. p. ix. ISBN 978-0-19-022745-6.
- ^ Holsinger, M. Paul (1999). War and American Popular Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. p. 102. ISBN 978-0-313-29908-7.
- ^ Nicole Saidi (November 19, 2015). "Gettysburg Address: 5 famous quotes explained". CNN. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
- ^ White Jr., Ronald C. The Words That Moved a Nation in: "Abraham Lincoln: A Legacy of Freedom Archived September 23, 2017, at the Wayback Machine", Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of State – Bureau of International Information Programs, p. 58.
- ^ "The Gettysburg Address". History. Archived from the original on December 6, 2013. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
- ^ Fox, Christopher Graham (September 12, 2008). "A analysis of Abraham Lincoln's poetic Gettysburg Address". foxthepoet.blogspot.de. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
- ^ Schuessler, Jennifer (November 18, 2022). "A Lingering Gettysburg Battle: Where Did Lincoln Stand?". The New York Times. Retrieved November 20, 2022.