President Abraham Lincoln gave one of the most famous speeches in American history on Nov. 19, 1863, months after the Union forces defeated the Confederate forces during the Battle of Gettsyburg.
The speech, which was delivered at the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, is just over two minutes long but was concise, powerful and memorable, encapsulating Lincoln’s skill as a great orator of his time. The now-famous “four score and seven years ago” line was uttered in this speech.
Full text of the speech as well as high-resolution scans of the document can be found at the National Our Documents government website, supported by the National History Day, The National Archives and Records Administration, and USA Freedom Corps, at http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=old&doc=36
According to the Library of Congress’s website, Abraham Lincoln made five manuscript copies of the speech, and the Library of Congress has two of them, which are on display in Washington, D.C.
In the 1990s, the Library commissioned its Preservation Directorate to design and construct two cases suitable for display of the two drafts, which must be kept at low temperatures.
The other three copies of the speech can be found at the Illinois State Historical Library in Springfield; Cornell University in Ithaca, New York; and the Lincoln Room of the White House.
Here is an excerpt of the Gettysburg Address, the memorable beginning:
The speech, which was delivered at the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, is just over two minutes long but was concise, powerful and memorable, encapsulating Lincoln’s skill as a great orator of his time. The now-famous “four score and seven years ago” line was uttered in this speech.
Full text of the speech as well as high-resolution scans of the document can be found at the National Our Documents government website, supported by the National History Day, The National Archives and Records Administration, and USA Freedom Corps, at http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=old&doc=36
According to the Library of Congress’s website, Abraham Lincoln made five manuscript copies of the speech, and the Library of Congress has two of them, which are on display in Washington, D.C.
In the 1990s, the Library commissioned its Preservation Directorate to design and construct two cases suitable for display of the two drafts, which must be kept at low temperatures.
The other three copies of the speech can be found at the Illinois State Historical Library in Springfield; Cornell University in Ithaca, New York; and the Lincoln Room of the White House.
Here is an excerpt of the Gettysburg Address, the memorable beginning:
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that “all men are created equal”.”
