What Lincoln Did Say

While Lincoln does not mention slavery in the Gettysburg Address it is very much at the heart of the point he is making. All that Lincoln does say in the speech is intended to liberate America from a past tainted by slavery.

* Lincoln invokes the Declaration of Independence in his opening sentence, reiterating its statement that "all men are created equal."

* Lincoln begins by referring to the nation's founding and concludes with a call for the nation's rebirth.

* Defines the nation as deriving from the will of the people in the famous phrase, "government of the people, by the people, for the people."