Abraham Lincoln's by now memorable Gettysburg Address was not a very long speech, hardly had 10 sentences, and lasted only for few minutes. But in those few minutes, Lincoln bought out the entire essence of the Civil War, the reason for the conflict, the fight for freedom and preserving the Union. It is often said that communication is all about delivering the message effectively in the shortest way possible. Here in just a couple of minutes, Lincoln forcefully put across why the Union had to be preserved, leaving no doubt in any one's mind.

Now if we actually look at the speech, and summarize the key aspects of it, we can really understand it's impact.

>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.

Lincoln lays forth the main point at the very start, the fact that the US was created as a nation where all men would be equal. An institution like slavery, which considered some men to be inferior, because of their race, was very much against the basic founding principles.

>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 battlefield 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.

After setting the opening tone, on the basic idea,of why the US was founded in the first place, Lincoln then reiterates, why the Civil War was necessary. To preserve the nation, that the founding fathers dreamt of, it was the dream for which many men were giving their lives on the battlefield.

>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

After opening with why the US was founded, and following it up with why the Civil War was necessary, Lincoln now touches the chord in the audience, of how the sacrifice of thousands of soldiers should not go waste. Of fighting another war against slavery, so that their sacrifices do not go waste.

And this is how he ends.

>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.

In just one speech, barely covering 10 lines, Lincoln starts with the founding of the US, to the conflict that is needed to save the Union, emphasizes on the value of the sacrifice made by the soldiers, and the need to ensure they do not go waste, to finally making a point about how freedom for the slaves, shall save democracy from perishing in the US. No wonder this remains one of the most memorable speeches in the world.

https://sadashree.substack.com/p/gettysburg-address