USA HISTORY

AMERICAN CIVIL WAR(1861 1865)

GETTYSBURG ADDRESS

[SOURCES]
What was so special about “four score and seven years ago” mentioned in the Gettysburg Address?

(A) The first colonists settled America

(B) America was discovered by Christopher Columbus

(C) America gained its 50th state

(D) ** The Declaration of Independence was written and America gained its freedom from Great Britain

EXPLANATIONS BELOW

Concept note-1: -So “four score and seven years” translates to 87 years. This speech was delivered in 1863; 87 years earlier was 1776, the year that the signing of the Declaration of Independence officially declared U.S. independence and “brought forth on this continent a new nation."

Concept note-2: -Lincoln’s address starts with “Four score and seven years ago.” A score is equal to 20 years, so he was referencing 87 years ago-1776, when the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Concept note-3: -"Fourscore 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."

Concept note-4: -The Gettysburg address is one of the most important speeches given during the time of the civil war. This speech encapsulates everything that the United States was struggling with during that time. Abraham Lincoln is able to use this speech as a sign of hope for the thousands of people who have lost it.