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.
Seventy-seven years have passed, and freedom and equality are the foundation of a country.
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 have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this
. When I come to this battlefield, my generation wants to use a square inch of land to serve as my warriors. Warriors, who died in order to go to national disaster, can only be comforted by the actions of our generation.
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 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.
Of course, a square inch of land cannot be deified by my generation. The actions of the warriors have been fulfilled for days, and they will surely be remembered in future generations, far exceeding the words of the lord.
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, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
The survivors of our generation should undertake the remaining great responsibilities, bear the unfinished legacy of the martyrs, and double my strength in the unfinished business. Let the martyrs die in vain. My country, God bless it, shall be given the freedom of a new life, and a country owned by the people, governed by the people, and enjoyed by the people, will endure forever in the world.
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