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How to Cite the Gettysburg Address

In November of 1863, at the height of the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the most well-known speeches in history . Though it only lasted two minutes, the Gettysburg Address eloquently expressed the pressing need to instill the principle of human equality in a divided nation.

To celebrate President Abraham Lincoln this President’s Day, let’s take a look at how to cite his most famous speech in MLA, APA, and Chicago.

To cite an address/speech, properly, you must identify the following pieces of information:

Speaker first and last name
Editor’s name, if there is one
Speech title
Date speech was given

If Found in a Book:

Book title (where speech was found)
Book author’s first and last name
Publisher of the book
Year the book was published
City and state of publisher
Page range where the speech/address was found

If Found in an Online Transcript:

Title of the article
Title of the Webpage (if different from the article)
Speech location
Publisher of the article
Date article was published
URL of the website that the article was retrieved from

Use the following structure to cite the Gettysburg Address in MLA style :

Formula if found in a book.

Speaker Last Name, First Name. “Speech Title.” Year Given. Book Title, by Author First Name Last Name, Publisher, Year Published.

MLA Example:

Lincoln, Abraham. “The Gettysburg Address.” 1863. America’s Most Famous Speeches , by Dale Salwak, Random House, 1984.

Here’s how the above example would be cited in an in-text citation:

(Speaker Last Name page #)

(Lincoln 16)

Formula if in an Online Transcript

Speaker Last Name, First Name. “Speech Title.” Year Given. Title of Article, Publisher, Date Published, URL.

MLA Example :

Lincoln, Abraham. “The Gettysburg Address.” 1863. The Story of Abraham Lincoln , The National Archives, 10 Jan. 2017, www.nationalarchives.gov/abraham-lincoln.

(Speaker Last Name)

Use the following structure to cite the Gettysburg Address in APA style :

Speech title. (Year Book Published). In Editor Initial. Last Name (Ed.), Book title (pp. x-x). City, State: Publisher.

Example APA Book Citation :

The Gettysburg address. (1984). In F. Ballard (Ed.), America’s great speeches (pp. 43-45). New York, NY: Random House.

Formula in an Online Transcript

Author’s Last name, F.M. (Year page published). Title of the article or individual page [Format]. Retrieved from URL

Lincoln, A. (2017). The Gettysburg address [Transcript]. Retrieved from www.nationalarchives.gov/abraham-lincoln .

Use the following structure to cite the Gettysburg Address in Chicago style format :

Formula in a book.

Speaker Last Name, First Name. “Speech Title.” Year Given. In Book Title, edited by Editor First Name Last Name. City/State: Publisher, Year Published.

Lincoln, Abraham. “The Gettysburg Address.” 1863. In America’s Most Famous Speeches , edited by Frank Ballard. New York: Random House, 1984.

Formula if Found in an Online Transcript

Speaker Last Name, First Name. “Speech Title.” Speech, Location, Date Given. “Webpage Title,” Website Title. Accessed Date. URL.

Lincoln, Abraham. “Gettysburg Address.” Speech, Gettysburg, PA, November 19, 1863. “American Speeches”, National Archives . Accessed January 7, 2017. www.nationalarchives.gov/abraham-lincoln .

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For more help with citing, in text citations , creating an APA cover page , and more, try EasyBib.com’s citation tools.

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