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LINCOLN'S SPEECH AT GETTYSBURG

November 19, 1863

AT Gettysburg, July 1, 2, and 3, General Meade and the Federal army brought to an end the long series of Northern defeats that had culminated in the alarming disasters at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. Gettysburg was the turning point in the Civil War. Together with Grant's success at Vicksburg, it brought new hope to the defenders of the Union, although it was still evident that a long hard struggle remained.

The state of Pennsylvania soon after the battle gave to the Federal government seventeen and a half acres of land to be used as a national cemetery in which to bury the fifty thousand men who fell on the ficid. On November 19, 1863, the cemetery was formally dedicated. Edward Everett was the orator of the day; but President Lincoln was asked to make a few remarks in which he was formally to set apart the grounds to their use.

On the train that took President Lincoln to Gettysburg he wrote out with pencil the words that he planned to speak. At Gettysburg a grand procession accompanied by military music marched to the summit of the little hill overlooking the battlefield, where amid the trees a stand for the speakers had been erected. Edward Everett delivered an elaborate polished oration two hours long in which he reviewed the objects of the war and the battle and its consequences. The President then spoke the few simple words that the

world has since appraised as one of the greatest speeches ever delivered.

SPEECH AT THE DEDICATION OF THE NATIONAL CEMETERY AT

GETTYSBURG

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

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 battlefield1 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. 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 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.

Show that this speech was peculiarly appropriate to the occasion of its delivery.

In what respect is the central thought of this speech like the central thought of Webster's First Bunker Hill Oration?

In what respect is the conception of democratic government as expressed in this speech like that expressed by Webster in his Reply to Hayne?

Is there anything in this speech that indicates that Lincoln was conscious that the nation was fighting to preserve democratic institutions and not merely the American Union?

What did Lincoln mean by

"" a new birth of freedom"? Can you tell why this speech is considered one of the greatest ever delivered?

LINCOLN'S SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS

March 4, 1865

WHEN Lincoln approached the beginning of his second term the long struggle was nearly concluded. If, however, the end had not been in sight, the Union government could hardly have continued the contest. Blood and treasure had been poured out until the North was almost exhausted. Although the rebellious forces of the South were nearly subdued, the future of the Union was dark.

The President's policies had, at last, gained the almost unanimous support of the North. One by one his enemies and traducers had been silenced; but Lincoln had no thought of exultation over his triumph. On the occasion of his second inauguration, with a devout and chastened spirit, he recognized the sincerity of the South, the righteousness of the cause of the North, and the authority of the Almighty to sit in judgment over both. His solemn words are often likened to the more lofty portions of the Old Testament. No greater speech was ever spoken. So contrite was his spirit, that many readers seem to find his words inspired with a prophetic realization of his impending doom.

SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN: At this second appearing to take the oath of the presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented.

The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hopes for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.

On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it; all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war-seeking to dissolve the Union and divide the effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came. One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war.