Practice News Story 6: Speech

Lincoln Dedicates Gettyburg Cemetery

Posted: 4:51 p.m., MST, November 20, 1863

Yesterday at the once bloody battlefield of Gettysburg Pennsylvania, President Abraham Lincoln dedicated a cemetery to the men who fought and died there, but it also seemed like it was for the nation as well. The President spoke of the war, the legacy of the founding fathers, the men who fought in the battle, and finally bringing a resolution to the great war between the states.
He began with a prophetic statement from the Declaration of Independence, “all men are created equal.” After that his attitude took on a very labored, somber and exhaustive tone, “Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.” The President said that he had carefully chosen the words of his two-minute speech, and he also said he “felt inspired,” about the ideas and words he had written.
The President also talked about the horrific events of the four-day battle that took place there only a year ago. He struggled with the thought that anything anybody did to dedicated the battlefield could not come close to what the 15,000 brave soldiers of both the north and south who died on the field did to dedicate and consecrate the newly formed cemetery. But above all the speech of President Lincoln was almost symbolic to the national mood, it seemed that most of the 15,000 audience members wanted to see this war die, and be buried in the nation memories. Which was made evident when President Lincoln said “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.”
Above all the Presidents speech was heralded as maybe the best he has ever composed and delivered. His eloquence, composure and emotion were heartfelt, and very powerful. We only hope that the Presidents vision of a healed nation will come to fruition soon.