Who delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863?

Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863.

Lincoln gave the speech at the dedication of Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, about four and a half months after the Battle of Gettysburg. The battle, fought from July 1 to July 3, was one of the major turning points of the American Civil War.

The ceremony’s principal oration was delivered by Edward Everett, a prominent politician and celebrated speaker. Lincoln was invited to offer “a few appropriate remarks,” but his brief address became the event’s most enduring text. It connected the war to the principles of equality and representative government.

The speech is famous for its brevity: the commonly recognized version contains 272 words. Several manuscript versions survive, and historians discuss differences in wording and punctuation among them. The phrase “government of the people, by the people, for the people” appears near its conclusion.