Abraham Lincoln

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, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. — Abraham Lincoln On November 19, 1863 — a little over four months after Union armies defeated the Confederacy at the decisive Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War — President Lincoln delivered a short speech in honor of those who died in defense of freedom. The speech was only about 272 words long (the precise wording is disputed), but the Gettysburg Address remains one of the most important speeches in U.S. history and a turning point in the Civil War.