Gettysburg Address Research Paper

There are moments in a nation’s history where a founding document has extreme power. The Gettysburg Address, delivered by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, is one of those documents. Although written and presented 76 years after the Constitution, this address, by Abraham Lincoln, influenced the United States of America and remains continuously applicable in the progression of the country. Amidst a time of complete division and utter chaos during the Civil War, The Gettysburg Address influenced the United States with the efforts of ending slavery and the war despite controversies, and remains applicable in today’s society.

From July 1 to July 3, 1863, Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general, invaded Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. This monumental Civil War

One major cause of the war, slavery, was fought over excessively. As the South, or the Confederacy, was fighting to keep slavery, the north, or the Union, was fighting to abolish it. Led by Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States, the Union attempted many efforts to eliminate slavery. Despite Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and other attempts at freeing slaves, the ultimate measures and ideas were not met. America was, and arguably still is, a country divided by race, influenced by acts of hate and, at times, questioned for protection of basic rights. Lincoln, as an overseer of the nation as a whole, noticed that these problems were accelerating and growing, and watched as the country became increasingly divided. When Lincoln wrote and delivered the Gettysburg Address, the United States was incapable of overlooking race, negatively influencing the country’s government, class, and protection of freedoms; he made an effort to rededicate America to the principle of human equality and fair government. Lincoln stated that America “shall have a new birth of freedom” and that government shall remain a government “of the people by the people for the people” in his address (Lincoln). Lincoln’s conviction of a need for change prompted this want for change in others,

The document influenced the end of the war and perseverance while expressed a need for change, hope, and a need to preserve a government for the people, by the people. It prompted the continuation of a well fought war in an effort to make a stand for a well needed change. These influences prevail in today’s society as well, as the address remains arguably the most-quoted piece of oratory in America’s history. Lincoln refers back to the Constitution and highlights the idea that America was made and “dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” (Lincoln). However, this idea was accepted unanimously. After the oration of the Gettysburg Address, America adapted from containing slavery, to segregation, to racism. Although an improval, it is not what Lincoln hoped for. Today, race plays a large factor in both political and social issues. Americans believe they live in a post-racial society, but incidents of racist murders, job injustices, and other issues occupy the news (Nesbit). Lincoln’s idea that America built itself upon a proposition to defend the idea that all men are created equal has not been lived out, let alone noticeable, in the years and decades following his address. The fight for all equality, including race, gender, and sexual orientation, is present within America and is based on the idea that all men are created equal, highlighting the Gettysburg Address. The