The Dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, in November, 1863, followed a few short months after the roiling, acrid clouds of gun smoke dissipated, leaving a little crossroads town in Pennsylvania heir to the human tragedy of over 7,000 corpses and 21,000 men suffering wounds. It was a most unnatural disaster. On November 19, the chief executive made the trip to the still-dazed, shot-torn community to deliver, almost as an afterthought , an address that clarified his belief that the Negro race should be liberated from their slavery, and that despite the loss of so much blood and life, the Union should hold to the goal of completing this emancipation. That he knew the eyes of the nation would rest of him was evident; this address was the first speech since his inauguration that he prepared in advance. But these carefully crafted words - only 269 of them - became a vital part of our nation's identity, and are a signature to the bedrock of our beliefs.
Abraham Lincoln
**Abraham Lincoln** (1809–1865) est le 16e président des États-Unis, célèbre pour avoir préservé l’Union pendant la guerre de Sécession et aboli l’esclavage. Son engagement pour la liberté et l’égalité, ainsi que son assassinat en 1865, en ont fait une figure majeure de l’Histoire mondiale. Ses discours et ses écrits restent des références en matière de démocratie et de droits humains.
