Practice News Story 6 :Speech

Posted: 4:45p.m. EST, Nov. 19,1863

Gettysburg , PA – The Wednesday afternoon was thick and the air heavy as President Abraham Lincoln stood at the sight of the infamous battle in this small hamlet and voiced his plans for building a memorial to those who fell here. His words paid tribute to the fallen soldiers and gave hope to the thousands of citizens that heard his voice echo across the field.

The president recounted the goals of our forefathers in founding this nation by beginning with, “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.” It was liberty and equality that he stressed while trying to comfort the audience and also keep them loyal to the cause of the Union. He admitted that the war is not yet over and the goals of the North, to reunite the Union and promote equality,have not yet been realized.

The president said that the cemetery will be built over the course of five years and will be “a fitting and proper tribute [to the fallen people]. Approximately 15,000 people came to hear President Lincoln’s plans to erect a cemetery on the grounds of Gettysburg, roughly the same number of lives taken in that same battle. The huge mass of people made the reality of the large number of lives lost more tangible and lamentable. The president’s final words to his hearkening audience were 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.” His words succeeded in bringing tears to the eyes of those who remembered and pride to the hearts of those who will never forget this great and terrible battle.