The Civil War, also known as “the War Between the States,” began in the early 1860’s primarily over the issue of slavery. The initial cause of the war was due to Abraham Lincoln’s victory in the Presidential Election of 1860. The start of the war officially occurred when the state of South Carolina seceded from the union. Over the course of time, ten other Southern slave states would soon follow, and eventually they declared themselves the “Confederate States of America.” The North, which was later called the “Union,” was the half favoring freedom, while the South, which was called the “Confederacy,” was in favor of slavery. Over the next few years, the Union and Confederates battled frequently, and for a while, it looked as if the Confederacy would prevail. That is, until both forces fought in the “Battle of Gettysburg.” The battle, which occurred in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, was the battle with the most casualties in the American Civil War. Perhaps the most important feature about the battle, was that it was said to be the turning point for the Union. When the battle ended, it involved between 46,000 and 51,000 casualties, and effectively decided the fate of the Union. Four and a half months later, on November 19, 1863, President Lincoln came to the battlegrounds of Gettysburg for the dedication ceremony for those who had fallen. It was there where he tried to redefine the purpose of the war in his historic
“Gettysburg Address.” This address would later become one of the greatest speeches in American History.
President Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” was unlike any other speeches of the time. After his all of two-minute speech, his audience was surprised for its brevity and left quite unimpressed. Over the course of time though, Americans came to realize how carefully crafted his speech was. Lincoln invoked many principles of human equality, and declared the Civil War as a struggle to bring about a “new birth of freedom”. This so called birth of...