Audiobook · read by volunteers
Gettysburg Address (version 4)
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
Read by Jim Cadwell · 1 chapter · 2 min
About the book
It is among the shortest famous speeches ever delivered, and one of the most quoted. On the afternoon of Thursday, the nineteenth of November, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln stood at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, a few months after one of the bloodiest battles of the American Civil War. In a few sentences he spoke of the founding of the nation, of the sacrifice of those who had died, and of the task that remained for the living. Its language is plain and carefully balanced, and it has been learned by heart by generations of schoolchildren. This is the fourth LibriVox recording of the address, a single reading of only a couple of minutes, offered for anyone who wishes to hear the words aloud.
Introduction
The Gettysburg Address is the best-known speech of Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), sixteenth president of the United States, and one of the most frequently quoted speeches in American history. He delivered it on the afternoon of Thursday, 19 November 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, during the American Civil War.
The occasion was the consecration of a burial ground for soldiers who had fallen in the battle fought there in the first days of July. The principal speaker of the day was another orator, who spoke at much greater length. Lincoln’s remarks were brief, and yet they gave the ceremony its lasting meaning. He connected the sacrifice of the soldiers to the ideals of the founding of the nation and called on his audience to continue the work they had left unfinished.
Different manuscript copies of the speech exist, and the wording differs slightly between them, so the version a reader meets may vary in small details. Anyone interested in the text may like to compare more than one reading.
This is the fourth version in the LibriVox collection. The recording is a single file and lasts only a couple of minutes, so it is one of the shortest items in the catalogue. It is worth hearing aloud, for the rhythm of the sentences, which was surely designed for the ear, and for the weight of its closing lines.
Public domain
Abraham Lincoln died in 1865: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text