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, CONCEIVED IN LIBERTY AND DEDICATED TO THE PROPOSITION THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED
EQUAL
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 ONA GREAT BATTLEFIELD
OF THAT WAR, WE HAVE COME TO DEDICATEA 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 BRAVE 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 TA SK
REMAINING BEFORE US-THAT FROM THESE 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 HAVEA 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
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
