On Nov. 19, 1863, President Lincoln gave probably the most significant speech of his life with the Gettysburg Address. Lincoln’s iconic speech took place where the Battle of Gettysburg had been fought. Among those farmer’s fields from July 1-3, 1863, Union troops fought off an targeting Confederate army at great cost and turned the tide within the progress of the Civil War. In a day of long-winded oratory, Lincoln spoke for just 2 minutes and managed to hit the mark so squarely that the Gettysburg Address is regarded as maybe probably the most important speech a president has ever made.
The purpose for the Gettysburg Address coming from Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the Soldiers National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Penn. Though the Union army had defeated the Confederates at Gettysburg, the carnage was so horrible that anti-war sentiment had reached a fever pitch. New York draft riots were going through and the Democrats were hoping the confederacy would just get what it wanted and Lincoln would quit. Lincoln wanted to rally the nation in order to get things going. This is why the speech, famous for the line “Four score and seven years ago,” had been so important.
Gettysburg address famous for certain things
Lincoln used the occasion of honoring the victims of the Battle of Gettysburg to make his case for total victory in the Civil War. The battlefield had been dedicated as “as a final resting place for many who here gave their lives that the nation might live.” Ironically, he said “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here.” He said that “these dead shall not have died in vain” and that the soldiers sacrifice had been “the last full measure of devotion”. He then ended his speech. To do this he said that the “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
The Battle of Gettysburg facts
Gettysburg, Penn., had the union and confederate soldiers fighting. July 1-3, 1863, 172,000 soldiers were fighting. The fight left bodies to rot within the sun. There were 8,000 men and 5,000 horses killed. Both sides of the field had Americans hurt. There were about 50,000 wounded in the fight. The Union army chased Robert E. Lee and his confederate army back into Virginia. That was how the battle of Gettysburg ended.
Details from
Time
newsfeed.time.com/2010/11/19/seven-score-and-seven-years-ago-what-you-dont-know-about-the-gettysburg-address/
Washington Post
washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/artsandliving/civilwar/timeline.html
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gettysburg#Casualties
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