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reactions varied from indifference to disappointment. Edward Everett, ex-governor of
Massachusetts, was the main speaker, and his speech had lasted for almost two hours. On
his trip back to Washington, Lincoln himself said of his speech: “It was a flat failure. I am
distressed about it. I ought to have prepared it with more care”. But Edward Everett assured
Lincoln saying: “I would be glad if I could flatter myself that I came near to the central idea
of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes”.
The Gettysburg Address
November 19, 1863
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new
nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
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 that nation may live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should
do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate – we cannot consecrate – we cannot hallow
– this ground. The brave men living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far
above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what
we say here but it can never forget what they did here. 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. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that
from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the
last full measure of devotion – that 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.
Lincoln was elected to a second term in 1864. The South surrendered, and the Civil
War ended on April 9, 1865. The difficult task of national reconstruction and
reconciliation lay ahead, but Lincoln would not be the person to lead the country through
this difficult period.
On April 14, Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln attended a play at the Ford’s Theater in
Washington, D.C. A few minutes past ten o’clock, an actor who disagreed with Lincoln’s
political opinions stepped into the Presidential box and shot the President. He died the
following morning.
Quotations from Lincoln
“...As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of
democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy”.
Letter, August, 1858
“If we do not make common cause to save the good old ship of the Union on this
voyage, nobody will have a chance to pilot her on another voyage”. Speech, Cleveland,
Ohio, February 15, 1861
Glossary
motivation: n. incentive; something that pushes you toward a goal
integrity: n. correct behavior
abolition: n. an ending or termination
virtual: adj. True
pinnacle: n. highest point
shelter: n. a cover; protection from weather
confess(ed): v. to admit to having done an act
handle(ing): v. to use, to employ

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