Obama ties Gettysburg legacy to modern rights

[November 20, 2013]  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is connecting the legacy of President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address to gay rights, women's rights and modern technological transformations.

On the 150 anniversary of Lincoln's speech, Obama says Lincoln understood that individual efforts aren't what matter, but rather the accumulated toil and sacrifice of ordinary men and women to preserve freedom.

In a hand-written essay released by the White House, Obama says Americans have shared in that toil and sacrifice through war, industrial revolutions, and movements for workers', women's and gay rights.

Obama says those changes sometimes strain the union. But he says, quote, "Lincoln's words give us confidence that whatever trials await us, this nation and the freedom we cherish can, and shall, prevail."

Obama's essay is 272 words — the same length as Lincoln's address.

[Associated Press]

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