Four Score And Seven Years Ago

This is the opening line of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, delivered on November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, four months after one of the Civil War's bloodiest battles. "Four score and seven" equals 87, pointing back to 1776 and the Declaration of Independence — Lincoln's deliberate choice to anchor the nation's founding in equality rather than in the Constitution. The phrase echoes the biblical cadence of Psalm 90:10, lending the speech a solemn, timeless quality. In just 272 words, Lincoln reframed the war as a struggle to fulfill the founding promise that all men are created equal.