the North to a
more whole-hearted prosecution of the war, since by far the greater
part of the North desired the immediate freedom of the slaves. This
proclamation was called the "Proclamation of Emancipation," and under
it all men in the United States really became free and equal, for the
first time in American History.

At last Lincoln had realized his lifelong desire to right the wrong of
slavery, and throughout the world this act added greatly to his fame.
By the black race he was looked upon as a second Savior and whenever he
was seen by a group of negroes they raised the echoes with their shouts
of enthusiasm and jubilee.

Another great deed was done by Lincoln and one that was to have an
immediate effect upon the course of the war. This was the appointment
of General Ulysses S. Grant to the position of Commander in Chief of
the Union forces. General Grant, like Lincoln, came from obscure
beginnings. He had volunteered his services at the beginning of the
war, and had won his way upward through sheer merit. On the Fourth of
July, 1863, he had captured the Southern city of Vicksburg, while
General Meade in the same year beat the Confederates decisively on the
field of Gettysburg which was the greatest battle of the war and marked
its turning point.

It was after Gettysburg that President Lincoln made the memorable
address upon the field of victory that has gone down into history as
one of the finest speeches ever made and has been placed above the
portals of one of England's greatest colleges as an example of the
purest example of English speech that has ever been uttered.

"Fourscore and seven years ago," said Lincoln, "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 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 the nation might live. It is altogether fitting and
proper that we should do this.

"But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate--we cannot consecrate--we
cannot 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,