American Heritage Library


The Gettysburg Address
by Abraham Lincoln

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathersbrought forth on this continent a new nation,conceived in liberty, and dc dicated to theproposition that all men are created equal

Now we are engaged in a great civil war,testing whether that nation, or any nation soconceived and so dedicated, can long endure

We are met on a great battlefield of thatwar We have come to dedicate a portion ofthat field as a final resting-place for those whohere gave their lives that that nation mightlive It is altogether fitting and proper that weshould do this

But in a larger sense we cannot dcclicate,we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow thisground The brave men, living and dead,who struggled here have consecrated it, farabove our poor power to add or detract

The world will littlc note, nor long remcmber, what we say herc, but it can nevel forgetwhat they did herc It is for us the living,rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinishedwork which they who fought here have thusfar so nobly advanced

It is rather for us to be here dedicated tothc great task remaining bcfore us, that fromthese honored dead we take increased clevotion to that cause for which they gave thc lastfull measure of devotion; that we hcre highlyresolve that these dcad shall not have died invain—that this nation, under God shall havea new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by thc people, for thepeople, shall not perish from the carth

Back to Our American Heritage Library