The influential speech that President Abraham Lincoln delivered at the dedication of a cemetery during the Civil War is known as the Gettysburg Address. Delivered on November 19, 1863, it followed the Battle of Gettysburg and emphasized the principles of equality and the sacrifices made by soldiers in the fight for a unified nation. In just a few brief paragraphs, Lincoln articulated the importance of preserving democracy and honoring those who had given their lives for the Union. The speech underscored the need to ensure that the nation would experience a “new birth of freedom” and that government would remain “of the people, by the people, for the people.”