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The E.Newspaper
By Dr. Howdy, Ph.D.
A.P.E., N.U.T.
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Saturday
Few Appropriate Remarks
.
Abraham Lincoln's "few appropriate remarks" at the dedication of the new
Union cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on November 19, 1863 have
long been regarded as the greatest speech in American History.
What was regarded as the "Gettysburg Address" that day was not the
short speech delivered by President Lincoln, but rather the two hour oration
delivered by Edward Everett. Everett was a renowned diplomat and scholar
who was widely considered to be the nation's greatest orator of his time.
In contrast, Lincoln's "few appropriate remarks" summarized the war in two
or three minutes, in ten sentences, and in less than 300 words:
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
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, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Most of the audience was watching the photographer, and the applause was
delayed, scattered, "barely polite." The photographer felt cheated — the
President had spoken at an important event, and he didn't get his
photograph.
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." (Sound familiar - President Bush,
Iraq, CNN, N.Y. Times, CBS, NBC, ABC, etc.)
Lincoln used the Gettysburg Address to reveal his thinking about the war,
as a fight not only to save the Union, but also ultimately to establish
freedom and equality for all under the law. Many historians think his simple
and inspired words reshaped the nation by defining it as one people
dedicated to equality.
President Lincoln had given his brief speech a lot of thought. He
saw meaning in the fact that the Union victory at Gettysburg coincided
with the nation's birthday; but rather than focus on the specific battle
in his remarks, he wanted to present a broad statement about the larger
significance of the war. He invoked the Declaration of Independence, and
its principles of liberty and equality, and he spoke of 'a new birth of freedom'
for the nation. In his brief address, he continued to reshape the aims of
the war for the American people, transforming it from a war for Union to
a war for Union and freedom.
In three minutes, in just 272 words, Lincoln explained what the war was
about and why it had to continue. It was a fight, he said, to preserve and
advance two fundamental American ideas: constitutional liberty and human
equality. The nation created by the Constitution of 1787 was a permanent
bond that could not be broken by a discontented minority. As Lincoln had
said, in private, two years before: '[the war] must settle this question ...
whether in a free government, the minority have the right to break up the
government when they chose. If they fail, it will go far to prove the
incapacity of the people to govern.' At Gettysburg he reiterated this in
soaring language. These men have died, and many more would die, he said,
so that 'government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not
perish from the earth.' But what began as a struggle to preserve democracy,
had become, as well, a war to insure what Lincoln called a 'new birth of
freedom,' a government 'dedicated to the proposition that all men are
created equal.' Lincoln did an amazing thing in his Gettysburg Address. He
informally amended the Constitution, which tolerated slavery, pledging the
nation to the idea of human equality embodied in the Declaration of
Independence. Later in the war, when the country grew weary of the killing,
Lincoln was pressured to drop emancipation as a condition of peace. He
flatly refused. (Sounds like today's Democrats).
Abraham Lincoln's "few appropriate remarks" at the dedication of the new
Union cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on November 19, 1863 have
long been regarded as the greatest speech in American History.
What was regarded as the "Gettysburg Address" that day was not the
short speech delivered by President Lincoln, but rather the two hour oration
delivered by Edward Everett. Everett was a renowned diplomat and scholar
who was widely considered to be the nation's greatest orator of his time.
In contrast, Lincoln's "few appropriate remarks" summarized the war in two
or three minutes, in ten sentences, and in less than 300 words:
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
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, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Most of the audience was watching the photographer, and the applause was
delayed, scattered, "barely polite." The photographer felt cheated — the
President had spoken at an important event, and he didn't get his
photograph.
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." (Sound familiar - President Bush,
Iraq, CNN, N.Y. Times, CBS, NBC, ABC, etc.)
Lincoln used the Gettysburg Address to reveal his thinking about the war,
as a fight not only to save the Union, but also ultimately to establish
freedom and equality for all under the law. Many historians think his simple
and inspired words reshaped the nation by defining it as one people
dedicated to equality.
President Lincoln had given his brief speech a lot of thought. He
saw meaning in the fact that the Union victory at Gettysburg coincided
with the nation's birthday; but rather than focus on the specific battle
in his remarks, he wanted to present a broad statement about the larger
significance of the war. He invoked the Declaration of Independence, and
its principles of liberty and equality, and he spoke of 'a new birth of freedom'
for the nation. In his brief address, he continued to reshape the aims of
the war for the American people, transforming it from a war for Union to
a war for Union and freedom.
In three minutes, in just 272 words, Lincoln explained what the war was
about and why it had to continue. It was a fight, he said, to preserve and
advance two fundamental American ideas: constitutional liberty and human
equality. The nation created by the Constitution of 1787 was a permanent
bond that could not be broken by a discontented minority. As Lincoln had
said, in private, two years before: '[the war] must settle this question ...
whether in a free government, the minority have the right to break up the
government when they chose. If they fail, it will go far to prove the
incapacity of the people to govern.' At Gettysburg he reiterated this in
soaring language. These men have died, and many more would die, he said,
so that 'government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not
perish from the earth.' But what began as a struggle to preserve democracy,
had become, as well, a war to insure what Lincoln called a 'new birth of
freedom,' a government 'dedicated to the proposition that all men are
created equal.' Lincoln did an amazing thing in his Gettysburg Address. He
informally amended the Constitution, which tolerated slavery, pledging the
nation to the idea of human equality embodied in the Declaration of
Independence. Later in the war, when the country grew weary of the killing,
Lincoln was pressured to drop emancipation as a condition of peace. He
flatly refused. (Sounds like today's Democrats).
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