Essay on the Meaning of the Gettysburg Address
While the Gettysburg Address is fairly short in length at around 300 words, this famous speech delivered by President Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1963 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania is both enduring and meaningful for all Americans today, almost exactly 146 years later. The first paragraph of his speech sets the tone, in which Lincoln does not directly mention the bloody Battle of Gettysburg, in which 50,000 soldiers lost their lives. Instead, he refers in the opening phrase, “Four score and seven years ago,” to the founding of America through another important written document, the Declaration of Independence in 1776. I believe Lincoln wanted the country to focus on preserving this …show more content…
I believe he is again focusing on preserving the country and uniting all Americans, North and South, behind the nation and reminding them of our common history. President Lincoln also refers to the dedication of the Battlefield of Gettysburg, emphasizing that this is,” a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.” Clearly, Lincoln wants to remind all citizens that these thousands of casualties were for a great purpose of preserving this country, not dividing it through a Civil War.
In the third paragraph, President Lincoln stresses the important point that the words of his speech cannot actually bless or make holy the Battlefield of Gettysburg. Rather, he indicates the bravery of the men, both living and dead, has already made the ground of the battlefield sacred. Again, Lincoln is honoring the actions of all the soldiers, Union and Confederate, and trying to unite the nation instead of dividing it.
