What speech did Abraham Lincoln deliver at the dedication of a military cemetery in 1863?

Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of a military cemetery in 1863.

Lincoln spoke on November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The cemetery honored Union soldiers who had died during the Battle of Gettysburg, one of the Civil War’s most important and bloodiest engagements.

The speech was brief, lasting only a few minutes, but it connected the war to the founding principles of the United States. Lincoln described the conflict as a test of whether a nation based on liberty and equality could endure.

The Gettysburg Address is often remembered for its compact structure and its concluding vision of government “of the people, by the people, for the people.” Accounts differ slightly in wording and punctuation because Lincoln prepared several manuscript versions. The Bliss version, written later, is generally treated as the standard text, although the speech’s exact word count can vary by version and counting method.