Gettysburg Address is a speech by U.S. President (President of the United States) Abraham Lincoln and is one of the best-known speeches in United States history (history of the United States). 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 (Gettysburg National Cemetery) in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, four and a half months after the Union (Union (American Civil War)) armies defeated those of the Confederacy (Confederate States of America) at the decisive 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 (Declaration of Independence (United States)) and redefined the Civil War as a struggle not merely for the Union (United States), but as "a new birth of freedom (Freedom (political))" that would bring true equality to all of its citizens, and that would also create a unified nation in which states rights were no longer dominant.

Beginning with the now-iconic phrase "Four score (20 (number)) and seven years ago," referring to the American Revolution of 1776, Lincoln examined the founding principles of the United States in the context of the Civil War (American Civil War), and used the ceremony at Gettysburg as an opportunity not only to consecrate the grounds of a cemetery, but also to exhort the listeners to ensure the survival of Americas representative democracy, that the "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Despite the speechs prominent place in the history and popular culture of the United States, the exact wording of the speech is disputed. The five known manuscripts of the Gettysburg Address differ in a number of details and also differ from contemporary newspaper reprints of the speech.