Free Republic

GETTYSBURG, Pa. -- In the days that followed Abraham Lincoln's 272-word speech to thousands of onlookers in this small Pennsylvania farm town, few newspapers in the country immediately reported on the speech. When they did, explains historian Michael Kraus, it was mostly dour examination filled with misquotes of the 16th president's words. "There were a lot of mistakes in those first reports. Words weren't heard well. Order was mixed up. The speech didn't appear in every newspaper the next day, or the next day, or the next day," Kraus said from his artifact-filled basement office at the Soldiers & Sailors...

Everyone has posted the speech itself (and it's included here), but the background information is also interesting - not only the situation in America at the time, but also the extent to which the structure of the speech mimics (draws from?) Thucydides' account of Pericles' 430 B.C funeral oration at the end of the first year of the Peloponnesian War. Today is the anniversary of President Lincoln's delivery of his few "brief remarks" at the dedication of the new national cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, only four or so months after the great Civil War battle there that emerged as "the...

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on 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 battle-field 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...

in the town of Gettysburg, PA. President Lincoln delivers a short speech dedicating the new National Cemetery there.

Eagles defensive end Trent Cole, a major hunting enthusiast, is snubbing a Pennsylvania sports expo because it has banned sales of certain rifles variously described as "modern sporting rifles," "tactical rifles" or "assault weapons." Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show, scheduled for Feb. 2 to 10 in Harrisburg, bills itself as "THE Sportsman Show," and was expected to draw about 200,000 visitors and feature 1,200 exhibitors. Many sportsmen, however, seem to be upset that the show's organizers have failed to fully support the constitutional right to bear arms. "Hordes of hunting industry manufacturers and TV personalities are thumbing their noses at...

Remember how the Democrats were oh so happy over the candidacy of Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996? Well, that was because Perot siphoned votes away from Repbublicans. Now that the Green Party has qualified for the statewide ballot in Pennsylvania, the Democrats and the DUmmies are absolutely OUTRAGED, mainly because they know the Greens will take votes from them as Ralph Nader did in 2000. You can watch just how upset the DUmmies are over the Green candidates in Pennsylvania in this THREAD titled, "It's official (TPM) GOP aided Green Party in PA. . ." So let us...