Background Information: Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address during the Civil War. This is an excerpt from that spee
ch in which he dedicated a national cemetery for soldiers who had lost their lives in the Battle of Gettysburg. We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.
According to Lincoln, why was the sacrifice made by the soldiers at Gettysburg worth the price they paid?
- Their deaths resulted in the births of many more Americans.
- Their deaths created a new type of government.
- They died and their sacrifice was worth very little.
- They died to protect American democracy.
The Gettysburg Address is the most famous speech by President Abraham Lincoln. It was pronounced in the Dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in the city of Gettysburg (Pennsylvania) on November 19, 1863, four and a half months after the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. Although Lincoln's carefully worded speech was secondary to other speeches of the day, it has been considered later as one of the greatest speeches in the history of mankind, or, at least, one of the most famous and cited of the modern era . Invoking the principles of equality of men enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, Lincoln redefined the Civil War as a new birth of freedom for the United States and its citizens.
