Lincoln Delivers the Gettysburg Address
In 272 words, Lincoln redefines the war as a test of whether government by the people can endure
Quick facts
- Location
- Soldiers' National Cemetery, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
- Date
- November 19, 1863
- Length
- About 272 words
- Surviving manuscripts
- Five, in Lincoln's own hand
What happened
The Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg was dedicated on November 19, 1863, four and a half months after the battle, with the featured address delivered by Edward Everett, a former Massachusetts senator known for hours-long orations. Lincoln was invited only to give a shorter set of "remarks" following Everett's two-hour speech. Lincoln's own address ran roughly two minutes and about 272 words, opening with "Four score and seven years ago" and arguing that the war tested whether a nation "conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal" could survive, and closing with the phrase that government "of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Five manuscript copies survive in Lincoln's own hand, with minor wording differences between them, since no single verified transcript exists from the moment of delivery.
Why it matters
The address reframed the Union cause in the language of the Declaration of Independence's equality clause rather than only the Constitution's preservation, giving the war a moral purpose that outlasted the specific political dispute over secession.
How we know
The Library of Congress holds two of the five surviving manuscript copies in Lincoln's hand, the Nicolay and Hay copies, and its research guide documents the dedication ceremony and Everett's role from contemporary newspaper accounts.
Sources
- Library of Congress Research Guides. Introduction - Gettysburg Address: Primary Documents in American History · Primary source (author-declared)guides.loc.gov · Cited as a "primary" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- National Archives, Prologue Magazine. An Address for the Ages · Primary sourcearchives.gov · The domain "archives.gov" is on our Primary source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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