On the 19th November 1863, US President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Lasting just over two minutes, it is often noted as one of the greatest speeches of all time and linked America’s founding principles, as written in the Declaration of Independence, to the struggles of the Civil War.

Opening with the famous phrase "Four score and seven years ago" Lincoln made the speech to an assembled crowd of approximately 15,000 people which included six separate state governors. However the President’s short, ten-sentence speech was intended only to ...