On the afternoon of Thursday, November 19th, 1863, President Lincoln, dignitaries, and thousands of onlookers listened intently while keynote speaker, Edward Everett addressed the crowd for two hours. Adhering to David Wills’ request for “a few appropriate remarks,” Lincoln arose from his seat on the platform and spoke for only two minutes. This speech would become one of the most well-known in American history, The Gettysburg Address. In this video, filmmaker Ken Burns, author David McCullough,

Gettysburg Address November 19, 1863 Four score 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 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 liv