Inspiring Addresses

American President Abraham Lincoln's Most Famous Gettysburg Address: November 19, 1863

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this

continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the

proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or

any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met

on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of

that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that

that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should

do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we

can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who

struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or

detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here,

but it can never forget what they did here.

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work

which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather

for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that

from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for

which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly

resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation,

under God, shall have a new birth of freedom --

and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. "

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Abraham Lincoln's Farewell Address

Springfield, IllinoisFebruary 11, 1861

When Abraham Lincoln left Springfield, Illinois, to start his inaugural journey for Washington, D.C., he paid an unforgettable tribute to his friends and neighbors in what is known today as the Farewell Address. Lincoln spoke these famous, emotion-charged words as he boarded a special presidential train at the Great Western Railroad station, now a restored Lincoln visitor site. The day Lincoln saw this depot for the last time he recognized most of the people in the huge crowd gathered outside. Ahead of him was war, death, and enduring fame; behind him were the warm-hearted people who provoked this response:

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"My friends, no one, not in my situation, can appreciate my feeling of

sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of these people, I

owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a century, and have passed

from a young to an old man. Here my children have been born, and one

is buried. I now leave, not knowing when, or whether ever, I may return,

with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington.

Without the assistance of the Divine Being who ever attended him, I

cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting in Him who

can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us

confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as

I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate

farewell. "

============================= Source: Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Roy P. Basler.

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