TODAY’S GETTYBURG ADDRESS —THE GREAT TASK BEFORE US

Two hundred and fifty years ago, our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all Americans are created equal.

We tested the “all” in that statement in our Civil War, and 80 years later, we tested the notion of a democracy over a fascist/oligarchic tyranny. And again today, we are engaged in another great civil contest, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure.

It is for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—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 1863, Mr. Lincoln charged us with a “great task”—to continue the work begun long ago in Philadelphia. Whatever course we take, we are adding to America’s story. Let’s make our next chapter worthy of the promise of that first chapter.