What Message did the Gettysburg Address Communicate to our War-torn Nations in 1863

In his eulogy for Lincoln on June 1, 1865, Senator Charles Summer called Lincoln's Gettysburg Address a "monumental act", and said that Lincoln was wrong in thinking that "the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here." He went on to say that "The world noted at once what he said, and will never cease to remember it. The battle itself was less important than the speech."

It's often said that it's not what you say, it's how you say it. Barack Obama pointed out during his campaign that saying that a speech, any speech, is "just words" is taking away the power of words themselves.

At the time of Lincoln's speech, brothers were killing brothers,

In his speech, Lincoln spoke of how the Civil War was a test of whether our nation could even survive. While the war raged on for two more years, the Battle of Gettysburg is often spoken of as the turning point. Lincoln's speech made people think about the true meaning and effect of a Civil War, and whether the country as a whole was more important than the wants of a few.

Those two minutes transformed Gettysburg from a battlefield into a symbol, and gave an historical meaning to the sacrifice of those who had lost their lives, while serving as an inspiration to the living. By invoking the guarantees of human equality in the Declaration of Independence, it defined the Civil War as "a new birth of freedom" and equality for all of the citizens of the country. In his speech, Lincoln was attempting to unify a nation where state's rights would no more rule supreme.

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