Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent, a new nation
, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.No
w we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conce
ived 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 her
e gave their lives that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we sho
uld do this.But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate,we can not consecrate,we can not h
allow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it
, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remembe
r what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, r
ather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus fa
r so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining
before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for whi
ch they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these d
ead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of
freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not per
ish from the earth.