One common theme in U. S. history is the idea that freedom and liberty are achieved through struggle. Write a paragraph explaining how the Gettysburg Address fits into this theme. A Memorial and a Call to Action:
The Gettysburg Address

1“Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that this nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.” —President Abraham Lincoln, 1863

2It was about 150 years ago that Lincoln stood on the battlefield at Gettysburg to give his speech, but his words remain powerful.

3Abraham Lincoln was president of the United States during the Civil War. The Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865. It was a time when the very foundation of the United States was tested. Southern leaders wanted to preserve the right to own slaves, so the Southern states decided to leave the Union in order to form their own country. The Civil War started as a war to restore the Southern states to the Union; eventually, it became a war fought to free the slaves.

4The Civil War was incredibly bloody and violent. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and ordinary people on both sides died. One Civil War battle was fought in July of 1863 at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle lasted for three days. In the end, the Union army triumphed, and it was a turning point in the war. But the victory came at a high price with more than 50,000 soldiers wounded, missing, or dead.

5Months later, a cemetery for the dead Union soldiers was built on the battlefield at Gettysburg. To dedicate the cemetery, a day of speeches, prayer, and music was arranged. President Lincoln was just one of the speakers that day.

6After his opening remarks, Lincoln emphasized that the dedication ceremony was less important than the battle itself. The crowds gathered for the ceremony could not dedicate the ground because the soldiers who struggled there had already done so. According to Lincoln, the sacrifices of the soldiers marked the ground as sacred no matter what he and the other speakers said.

7Lincoln wanted his audience to remember, celebrate, and grieve for those who had died in the service of the Union. Even at the time, though, Lincoln’s speech was more than just a memorial. He wanted to inspire his audience to action. He said, “It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.” The Civil War was still being fought, and the outcome was far from certain. Lincoln was asking listeners to dedicate themselves and all their efforts to bring about victory for the Union in the Civil War.

8President Lincoln was wrong about one thing in his speech that day in 1863. He said, “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here. . . .” Instead, the world continues to remember the words spoken on the Gettysburg battlefield. It is one of the most important speeches in all of American history. The Gettysburg Address is still a mighty call to finish the work of bringing freedom and democracy to all.