Fourscore 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 cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot 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.

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Photos of Lincoln at Gettysburg

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Original Draft Page I     Original Draft Page II

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Research Note 1: The transcript above is known as the "Bliss" copy, the widely adopted version of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. However, the version quoted about is likely NOT the version delivered by Lincoln. For more information on the Gettysburg Address versions see: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/gadd/gadrft.html and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Address

Research Note 2: Audio of Jim Getty's version provided by Joseph Slife, Emmanuel College Communication Dept. (Franklin Springs, Ga.)

Research Note 3: William F. Hooley performance on 21 September 1898, American Memory, The Library of Congress

Image #2 Source: Wikimedia.org

See also: Movie Speech: God's and Generals - Stonewall Jackson's address to the 33rd Regiment

See also: Remember the Titans: "Gettysburg" speech delivered by Denzel Washington

Page Updated: 2/19/24

U.S. Copyright Status: Text & Image #2 = Public Domain. Image #1 = Fair Use.