The United States had won its freedom from Britain 87 years earlier, embarking on the “Great Experiment”.
Four score 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.
However, Lincoln realized that he also had to inspire the people to continue the fight.īelow is the text of the Gettysburg Address, interspersed with my thoughts on what made it so memorable. The stated purpose of Lincoln’s speech was to dedicate a plot of land that would become Soldier’s National Cemetery. Union troops had only recently defeated Confederate troops at the Battle of Gettysburg. America was in the midst of a bloody civil war. First, it is important to remember the context.
