Front:
SOUVENIR FROM GETTYSBURG-AMERICA'S GREATEST SHRINE
1809
1865
LINCOLN'S GETTYSBURG ADDRESS
FOURSCORE AND SEVEN YEARS AGO, OUR FATHERS BROUGHT FORTH ON THIS CONTINENT A NEW
NATION, CONCETVED IN LIBERTY, AND DEDICATED. TO THE PROPOSITION THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED
EQUAL.
NOW WE ARE ENGAGED IN A GRE AT CIVIL WAR, TESTING WHETHER THAT NATION, OR ANY
NATION SO CONCEIVED AND SO DEDICATED, CAN LONG ENDURE. WE ARE MET ON A GREAT BATTLEFIELD
OF THAT WAR, WE HAVE COME TO DEDICĂTE 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.
BUT IN A LARGER SENSE WE CANNOT DEDICATE-WE CANNOT CONSECRATE-WE CANNOT HALLOW
THIS GROUND. THE BR AVE MEN, LIVING AND DEAD, WHO STRUGGLED HERE, HAVE CONSE CRATED IT FAR
ABOVE OUR POOR 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. 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 THE SE HONORED DEAD WE TAKE INCREASED DEVOTION TO THAT
CAUSE FOR WHICH THEY GAVE THEIR 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.
NOV. 19, 1863
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
32
COPYRIGHT MARKEN & BIELFELD, INC.
Back:
This Bronze Tablet has been erected on the old
Wills Building in the Public Square at Gettysburg,
In this house, then a private residence, Abraham
Lincoln prepared his Address which was delivered
the following day when the National Cemetery was
dedicated. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is con-
sidered one of the masterpieces of English literature.
MB
Marken & Bielfeld, Inc., Frederick, Md.
5 A-H2161
