Lincoln rewrote America in 272 words at Gettysburg | AMERICA AT 250 Part 3 of 8

History Onion · 2:59

November 19, 1863. A battlefield in Pennsylvania where, four months earlier, 50,000 Americans were killed, wounded, or missing in three days of fighting. Abraham Lincoln stands on that ground and does not begin with the Constitution. He begins with the Declaration: "All men are created equal." In 272 words, he gives the war a new meaning — and asks the country to finish what 1776 only promised. Then come the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. A Second Founding. On paper. For almost a century, the rights they promised existed on paper while Jim Crow ruled in practice — until Brown v. Board, the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act forced the federal government to enforce what 600,000 Americans had died for. Part 3 of 8 in AMERICA AT 250 — counting down to the 250th anniversary of American independence.