Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Lincoln gave the speech on November 19, 1863, during the dedication of Soldiers’ National Cemetery, now called Gettysburg National Cemetery. The cemetery stood near the battlefield where Union forces had defeated the Confederate army in the Battle of Gettysburg from July 1 to July 3, 1863.
The address was brief, but it reframed the Civil War as a test of whether a nation founded on equality and popular government could endure. Lincoln connected the sacrifices of the dead with the continuing responsibility of the living to preserve the Union and democratic government.
The speech is often remembered as one of the most important works of American political rhetoric. Lincoln was not the event’s main featured speaker; the principal oration came from Edward Everett, who spoke at much greater length.