In 1863, only four and a half months after the tide had turned for the Union armies in the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln gave the iconic “Gettsyburg Address” speech close to where this photo was taken. In just 271 words, he artfully articulated the goal of the United States government as one that would be by, for, and of the American people. He also pronounced the idea that the country was “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
