GETTYSBURG — Joe Biden on Tuesday made an impassioned plea for national unity and bipartisan cooperation in a speech casting the 2020 election as a “battle for the soul of the nation,” with the Civil War's most famous battlefield as his backdrop.

“There's no more fitting place than here today in Gettysburg to talk about the cost of division, about how much it has cost America in the past, about how much it is costing us now, and why I believe in this moment we must come together,” Biden said to a small, socially distanced crowd. “Today, once again, we are a house divided, but that, my friends, can no longer be. We are facing too many crises. We have too much work to do. We have too bright a future.”

In the speech, Biden sought to place himself above the fray, spending more time discussing universal American values than leveling attacks on President Donald Trump. He layered a presidential tone over his Scranton-bred everyman persona.

Earlier in the day, Biden described the speech as one that he “worked and worked and worked on.”

With only a handful of attendees aside from members of the news media, security personnel, and campaign staff, Biden's speech was delivered primarily for a television audience. Among the few guests invited were local military veterans.

He spoke from a vista overlooking the Civil War's bloodiest battlefield, where the Union Army won a pivotal victory over Confederate soldiers and President Abraham Lincoln delivered his historic Gettysburg Address affirming that all people are created equal.

Biden, who has not slowed his pace of campaigning since Trump announced he tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday, has made trips to Michigan and Florida over the last few days.