Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863, a speech remembered during America250.
Lincoln spoke at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, four months after the Battle of Gettysburg. His short address honored the Union dead while presenting the Civil War as a test of democratic government and the principle that all people are created equal.
The event's principal speaker was Edward Everett, who gave a much longer oration before Lincoln spoke. Lincoln's text survives in five handwritten copies, and wording differs slightly among them. The address is often described as 272 words, although the total depends on the copy and counting method. It did not formally dedicate the entire battlefield; it dedicated the cemetery and redefined the meaning of the conflict.