The Gettysburg Address is a speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln at the November 19, 1863, dedication of Soldier’s National Cemetery, a cemetery for Union soldiers killed at the Battle Of Gettysburg during the American Civil War.
Invited to give a "few appropriate remarks," Lincoln was not the featured speaker at the dedication; Edward Everett, a famous orator and former politician and educator, was. Everett spoke for two hours, from memory, before Lincoln took the podium. In about 260 words, beginning with the famous phrase, "Four score and seven years ago," Lincoln honored the Union dead and reminded the listeners of the purpose of the soldier’s sacrifice: equality, freedom, and national unity. The following day, Everett wrote to Lincoln: "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."
Partly in an effort to defuse calls for more far-reaching reforms, President Eisenhower proposed a civil rights bill that would increase the protection of African American voting rights. By 1957, only about 20% of blacks were registered to vote.
