15,000 spectators were in attendance

The Gettysburg AddressDelivered at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1863

Abraham Lincoln1809-1865

• Born 1809 in Kentucky to uneducated farmers in a one room log cabin (making him the first President born outside of the 13 colonies)• Mother died when he was 9 years old. Became very close to step-mother.• Formal education was only 18 months. Very well read and mostly self educated.• Skilled in wrestling and using an axe.• Stood 6 ft. 4 in. tall.• Married to Mary Todd, whose family owned slaves.• Had four sons. Only one survived into adulthood, Robert Lincoln.• Elected to Illinois General Assembly in 1834• Elected to US House of Representatives in 1846• Elected 16th President (first Republican) of the US in 1861

Historical ContextBattle of Gettysburg

– Battle was July 1-July 3, 1863 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

– Approximately:• 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

Abraham Lincoln

• Leader of the Republican Party in 1860

• Becomes the 16th President of the United States receiving 40% of the popular vote

• Southerners called him the “Black Republican”

Gettysburg Address• The address was about a 2 minute speech

given by President Lincoln at the dedication of the Soldier’s National Cemetery.

– Given 4 months after the costliest battle of the Civil War.

• Total casualties of the War to this time 472,154• This battle alone had 54,707 casualties

Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address (1863)

• It is time we talk about the promise of equality.– “…a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the

proposition that all men are created equal”

• We honor the soldiers sacrifice. – “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. – “—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.”

Main Points: