Which speech is commemorated by the fifth 2026 America250 quarter?

The Gettysburg Address is commemorated by the fifth 2026 America250 quarter.

The speech was delivered by President Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In only a few hundred words, Lincoln connected the Civil War to the principles of equality and self-government expressed in the Declaration of Independence.

The 2026 quarter shows Lincoln on its obverse. Its reverse depicts two hands grasping each other and includes wording from the speech, including the phrase “a new nation conceived in liberty.” The coin therefore connects the semiquincentennial to a major later statement about the meaning of the American founding.

The Gettysburg Address was not delivered in 1776 and is not the same as the Declaration of Independence. It was spoken during the Civil War, 87 years after the Declaration was adopted.