It was on the 19th of November, 1861, that President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address at the dedication ceremony of the military cemetary at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
The background to the Gettysburg Address was the Battle of Gettysburg, fought from the 1st to the 3rd of July, 1863, during the American Civil War. This battle was one of the pivotal turning points in the conflict between the Union and Confederate forces. Confederate General Robert E. Lee had launched his second invasion of the North, hoping a major victory on Union soil would demoralise the North and possibly encourage foreign recognition of the Confederacy. The battle ended in a decisive Union victory, with Lee’s army retreating to Virginia, but at a terrible cost: roughly 51,000 soldiers were killed, wounded, or missing, making it the bloodiest battle of the war. The sheer scale of death left the small town of Gettysburg unable to cope with the thousands of hastily buried bodies, leading to the creation of a new national cemetery.
The idea for a formal cemetery dedication came from local attorney David Wills, who invited President Lincoln to attend and offer “a few appropriate remarks.” The main oration was to be delivered by Edward Everett, a celebrated statesman and orator, who spoke for nearly two hours. In contrast, Lincoln’s role was conceived as secondary—a brief ceremonial addition rather than the focus of the event. Nevertheless, Lincoln recognised the significance of the moment. He saw an opportunity to frame the immense sacrifice of the soldiers within the larger purpose of the war and to reaffirm the Union’s moral and democratic foundations.
Lincoln’s deliberations in writing the Gettysburg Address were careful and thoughtful. Contrary to the oft-repeated myth that he scribbled it hastily on the back of an envelope while travelling to the event, historical evidence suggests that Lincoln began shaping his ideas well in advance. He was an avid student of language and rhetoric, and his writing process often involved drafting, revising, and condensing his thoughts into simple yet profound expressions. He drew heavily upon the Declaration of Independence, particularly its assertion that “all men are created equal,” as the moral foundation of the Union cause. Lincoln also considered the deeper meaning of “government of the people, by the people, for the people,” a phrase that would become immortal in the speech’s closing.
Lincoln’s mastery of concision is evident in his treatment of the war’s context. Instead of recounting the battle in detail or praising military heroes individually, he elevated the speech to a universal statement about liberty, equality, and national purpose. He opened with the now-famous words, “Four score and seven years ago,” invoking the nation’s founding in 1776. This rhetorical choice reminded listeners that the Civil War was not merely a sectional conflict but a test of whether a republic built on the principles of equality and self-governance could endure. His speech honoured the fallen soldiers by framing their sacrifice as part of a larger struggle to ensure that “these dead shall not have died in vain.”
The delivery itself was understated yet poignant. After Everett’s lengthy oration, Lincoln rose and spoke for little more than two minutes. Many in the audience were initially uncertain how to respond; the silence that followed was in part due to the shock of its brevity. Yet Everett himself later wrote to Lincoln, saying, “I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes.” Lincoln’s address transformed the purpose of the war in the public mind, redefining it as a struggle not just for Union, but for the enduring principle of human equality.
The Gettysburg Address endures because of its moral clarity, its poetic language, and its ability to connect a specific historical moment to the timeless ideals of democracy. Lincoln’s careful deliberation produced a speech that was short, solemn, and profoundly evocative. The bloody sacrifice at Gettysburg became not just a tragic event in a civil war, but a sacred moment in the ongoing effort to ensure that the American experiment in self-government would survive. In expressing this vision with such economy and elegance, Lincoln created a legacy that still resonates more than a century and a half later.