"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.

"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 battle-field 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. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

"But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. 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. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—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".

Source:  Wikipedia, Gettysburg Address.  06 Feb 2008.

When and why  was the Gettysburg Speech given?

The famous Gettysburg Speech was given at a ceremony in dedication to the fallen soldiers of the Battle at Gettysburg (July 1 - July 3, 1863).  The citizens of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania had to deal with the more than 7,500 bodies and several thousand horses on the battlefield.  The town wanted to bury the dead in a dignified way for both the Union's Army of the Potomac and the Confederacy's Army of Northern Virginia.  The town of Gettysburg wanted to build a cemetery to place the bodies of both armies in by asking the families to pitch in and pay for the burial.  However, a young wealthy lawyer, David Wills, suggested to build a National Cemetery instead that would be funded by the states involved.  David Wills, wrote a letter to the Governor of Pennsylvania, Andrew Gregg Curtin, and Governor Curtin authorized Wills to buy 17 acres of land for the National Cemetery in honor of the dead soldiers.  David Wills paid $2,475.87 for the 17 acres of land.

The dedication of the National Cemetery was initially set for September 23, 1863 and David Wills invited Edward Everett, a past Secretary of State, to be the primary speaker.  Everett had also held the positions of a U.S. Senator, U.S. Representative, Governor of Massachusetts, Harvard University President and a Vice Presidential candidate.  The dedication was postponed to November 19, 1863 because Edward Everett did not believe he would have an appropriate speech by September.

David Wills and the event committee invited President Abraham Lincoln to the dedication of the National Cemetery, seventeen days before the event.  Wills sent a formal letter to President Lincoln stating, "It is the desire that, after the Oration, you, as Chief Executive of the nation, formally set apart these grounds to their sacred use by a few appropriate remarks" (Wikipedia).  President Lincoln wrote his famous speech while in Washington, D.C. and finished it in Pennsylvania.  Lincoln arrived in Gettysburg the night before and was a guest at Wills house.

"On the morning of November 19 at 9:30 a.m., Lincoln, astride a chestnut bay horse and riding between Secretary of State William H. Seward and Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, joined in a procession with the assembled dignitaries, townspeople, and widows marching out to the grounds to be dedicated" (Wikipedia).  The attendees of this special event included about 15,000 people, including six governors from the Union states: "Andrew Gregg Curtin of Pennsylvania, Augustus Bradford of Maryland, Oliver P. Morton of Indiana, Horatio Seymour of New York, Joel Parker of New Jersey, and David Tod of Ohio" (Wikipedia).  Edward Everett spoke for 2 hours before President Lincoln gave his famous three minute speech.

The National Cemetery Dedication Program

Music, by Birgfield's Band
Prayer, by Reverend T.H. Stockton, D.D.
Music, by the Marine Band
Oration, by Hon. Edward Everett
Music, Hymn composed by B.B. French, Esq.
Dedicatory Remarks, by the President of the United States
Dirge, sung by Choir selected for the occasion
Benediction, by Reverend H.L. Baugher, D.D.