The Gettysburg Address

By:

Abraham Lincoln

Bibliography

1809 - Abraham Lincoln was born in a log Cabin near Hodgenville, Kentucky

1817- Abraham Lincoln and his family moved by wagon across the Ohio River into Indiana

1818- Nancy Lincoln, Abraham’s mother, died from “milk sickness”

1828- At age 19, in New Orleans Lincoln saw for the first time slaves being sold in the marketplace.

1836- Lincoln became a lawyer. He practiced law in Springfield, Il.

1842- He marries Mary Todd when Lincoln was 33 years old

1858- Lincoln debated Stephen Douglas in seven cities on the issue of slavery

1860- Lincoln decides to run for president

1861- Lincoln took oath of office to become president. The Civil War began in April, 1861

1863- a ceremony was held to dedicate a cemetery on the Gettysburg battlefield. Lincoln made a famous speech know as the “Gettysburg Address”

1865- Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth while attending a play at Ford’s theater

Main Points

Our founding fathers brought forth a new nation “conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal”

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.

Main Points cont’d

We cannot consecrate this field. The soldiers have already done so.

“But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power

to add or detract.”

Main Points

The Union is worth fighting for

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.

Questions

Why couldn’t Lincoln consecrate the ground?

What responsibility does Lincoln give us as the readers?