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The Understanding of the Gettysburg Address 外院09级 经贸11班陈露 The Gettysburg Address is a speech by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and is one of the most well-known speeches in United States history.[1] It was delivered by Lincoln during the American Civil War, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg. Abraham Lincolns carefully crafted address, secondary to other presentations that day, came to be regarded as one of the greatest speeches in American history. In just over two minutes, Lincoln invoked the principles of human equality espoused by the Declaration of Independence and redefined the Civil War as a struggle not merely for the preservation of the Union sundered by the secession crisis, but as a new birth of freedom which in a renewed Union would bring true equality to all of its citizens, ensuring that democracy would remain a viable form of government and creating a nation in which states rights were no longer dominant. The Gettysburg Address is the modal which used very simple words to express meaningful ideas. Most of the people appreciate and analyze it from its art angle so that to some extent they ignore the understanding of its profound meaning. In the address, Lincoln mentioned that “It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task…” In my opinion, what he referred is abolitionism. Firstly this idea embodies in pursuing for that all men are created equal. The American Negro Slavery appeared in the first 17th century for that the society was badly in need of labor force with the development of the economy of the North American capitalism. Though the Declaration of Independence in 1776 had stated the belief of equality and freedom, the Constitution in 1787 not only avoided the incompatibilities between slavery and the Declaration of