Abraham Lincoln, November 19, 1863
a. Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent
a. a new nation:
b1. conceived in liberty,
b2. and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
c1. Now we are engaged in a great civil war…
c2. testing
c3. whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated…
c2. can long endure.
c1. We are met on a great battlefield of that war.
d1. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field
d2. as a final resting place
d3. for those who here gave their lives that this nation might live.
e1. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
e2. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate… we cannot consecrate…we cannot hallow this ground.
f. The brave men, living and dead,
f. who struggled here have consecrated it,
f. far above our poor power to add or detract.
e1. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here,
e2. but it can never forget what they did here.
d1. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here
d2. to the unfinished work
d3. which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.
c1. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us… that from these honored dead
c2. we take increased devotion
c3. to that cause
c2. for which they gave the last full measure of devotion…
c1. that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain…
b2. that this nation, under God,
b1. shall have a new birth of freedom…
a. and that government
a. of the people… by the people… for the people… shall not perish from this earth.
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Summary outline
A. Our Fathers
B. Conceived in Liberty
C. A Great Civil War
D. To Dedicate
E. We Cannot Dedicate/Consecrate/Hallow this Ground
F. The Brave Men, Living and Dead, Who Struggled Here
E. What They Did Here
D. To Be Dedicated
C. Great Task Remaining Before Us
B. New Birth of Freedom
A. The People
