|
“Fourscore and seven years ago our Fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal…” [Gettysburg Address]. The New York Times. New York, Friday, November 20, 1863. 8 p. Transcript: Fourscore and seven years ago our Fathers brought forth upon this Continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. [Applause.] 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 battle-field of that war. We are met to dedicate a portion of it as the final resting-place of those who here gave their lives that that nation might 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. Inventory# 21010 $9,500 Historical Background:
This front page report on the November 19 dedication of The Gettysburg Cemetery contains a first day printing of Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address. Lincoln made his speech some four months after the bloody and pivotal battle that turned the tide of the Civil War in favor of the Union. Lincoln’s speech was preceded by an address from Edward Everett, the most famous orator of his day. Everett’s speech took some ninety minutes to deliver, and is largely forgotten; Lincoln’s speech, delivered in only a few minutes, has endured as a supreme distillation of American values, and of the sacrifices necessary for the survival of liberty and freedom.
|
