Practice News Story 7: Speech

November 19, 1863
Gettysburg, Penn.
Gettysburg Address


Some four months after the battle where 160,000 troops fought and 7,500 American soldiers, North and South, died at the battle of Gettysburg, President Abraham Lincoln gave a speech in front of 1,500 people, that will not be soon forgotten. President Lincoln is going to have the battlefield where so many soldiers fought and died, dedicated a portion of the field as a cemetery to all the soldiers who gave their lives, so they can have a final resting place.
Lincoln went on to say that, “we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow, this ground”. Claiming the soldiers who fought bravely had already done so “far above our poor power to add or detract”. This powerful and well thought out speech touched many people, and added to the dedication ceremony. Lincoln hopes that people dead, “shall not have died in vain”, in hopes that maybe they did all this for a reason and this war may soon be over.