Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863.
Lincoln spoke at the dedication of Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, four and a half months after the Battle of Gettysburg. The cemetery ceremony honored Union soldiers who had died in the American Civil War, and Lincoln was invited to provide “a few appropriate remarks” after the principal oration.
Although Lincoln’s speech was brief, it became one of the most influential statements in American political history. It connected the Civil War to the principles of equality and self-government expressed in the Declaration of Independence. Its opening reference to a nation “conceived in Liberty” helped shape later understandings of the country’s founding ideals.
Edward Everett, a prominent orator, delivered the main, much longer speech at the ceremony. This sometimes causes confusion about who gave the famous address. Everett later acknowledged the lasting power of Lincoln’s shorter remarks, which are now the event’s defining text.