Posted on 11/19/2004 6:43:31 AM PST by Valin
Gettysburg Address
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate - we can not consecrate - we can not hallow - this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
THE SPEECH, which he wrote himself. So few words, each one a gem. It will never be equaled, for it's brevity, yet it's depth of meaning. I am fascinated by Lincoln.
One of our greatest Presidents and the first from our Party to serve as President Of These United States. The Gettysburg Address reminds us of the core value America upholds to this very day both afar in distant lands and here at home.
This was a time when speeches went on for hours. Lincoln's brevity stunned everyone.
Isn't it interesting that pols today, including, unfortunately, Pres. Bush, seem to be getting more and more long-winded? I would love for him to give a 20-minute SOTU Speech.
"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here"
Lincoln was wrong about that.
As a wise man once said, brevity is the soul of wit.
Wonder how many teachers will bring this to the attention of their students today...
Whenever I hear people state that press bias and idiocy is new, I just recall this comment about the Gettysburg Address:
The next day the Chicago Sun-Times would observe, "The cheek of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat and dishwatery utterances of the man who has to be pointed out to intelligent foreigners as the President of the United States." (source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Address)
Fortunately, not everyone felt that way:
in a letter to Lincoln the next day, Everett praised the President for his eloquently concise speech saying, "I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes."
Everett's two hour main speech at Gettysburg: http://douglassarchives.org/ever_b21.htm
My sex life is like the Gettysburg address - I had four scores and they wer all seven years ago.
At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."
Lincoln wrote this in 1857.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
It might be twenty minutes if Congress would just sit down and listen instead of having a standing ovation every half sentence. (BTW it took about 2 minutes to read the Address.)
However, compare the Lincoln-Douglas debates against the presidental "debates" with two minute time limits per topic on TV this year. Lincoln-Douglas debates The typical speech back then was much longer than today. The short length of the Gettysburg Address was the exception, even for Lincoln.
It just doesn't get any better than that.
Alexander Pope, the Baroque period British poet, coined that phrase.
Lincoln was likened to an ape and a monkey.
Lincoln was called crude and stupid.
Lincoln was criticized for acting alone.
Lincoln was criticized for mishandling a war.
Lincoln was called a divider not a uniter.
Lincoln wrote the greatest piece of prose ever written in the English Language while riding on a train.
>>>> and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth. <<<<
That is where he went wrong. The people of one part of the country - and their states - were legally allowed to leave. Except that Lincoln and his supporters decided that their "votes" did not count.
I totally agree with you, but your whistling in the wind - no one is listening.
The Civil War marked the begining of the end for strict constructionism and the death of Constitutional government.
On the other hand we would probably all be speaking German or Japanese or Russian now if the U.S. split in two.
Thank you for sharing.
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