What does fourscore and seven mean?

Answer 1

A 'score' = 10 years. So, 4 score + 10 = 47 years

Hope this has helped.

A Canadian Friend

Sorry. Just a typo. 4 Score & 7 = 47 years (1 score = 10 years)

AnswerPerhaps score has a different meaning in Canada, but in the U.S. one score is twenty. Thus "four score and seven" equals 87.

confirm:

Yes, 87 is correct. At least, that is what Lincoln meant when he said it in the Gettysburg Address.

There is no difference in meaning in Canada. "Canadian friend" is simply mistaken.

Note that Lincoln's use of the expression "four score and seven years ago" referred to 1776, the year of the Declaration of Independence (which he quotes in the next line), 87 years before the Battle of Gettysburg.

In fact, that battle had ended on July 3, 1863, with Lee's army leaving the field on the 4th of July. At the same time (on July 4) Grant's siege of Vicksburg came to a successful conclusion. Lincoln thought the timing of these two major victories significant, and remarked about it just after Gettysburg. Thus was born the idea for the Gettysburg Address delivered at the dedication of the national cemetery there on November 19.

As for why Lincoln changed his original "87", this, like many other utterances by Lincoln, was likely influenced by a biblical expression, viz., the reference in Psalm 90 (in the King James Version's wording) to the lifespan of a man being "three score years and ten..."

Answer 2

87 years earlier

Which means 1776 when used in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address to the nation. Because Article V of the US Constitution had specified that no amendments about importation of slaves could be addressed until 1808, which gave the nation 20 years (one score) after ratification to deal with the issue of slavery, Lincoln may have been deliberately alluding to the fact that our nation had ignored this issue four times over that allotted by our founders.

Answer 3

a score is twenty years, and fousr score and seven, means 87 years.