Short and to the Point

Husband and I are so excited to be living somewhere with so much Civil War history. Saturday, we took a drive out to Gettysburg.  I had no idea what to expect and even wondered what was "to see" out at a battlefield. Well, that feeling soon passed and I was overcome by the story of the battle and the huge turning point it played in the Union winning the war.  It was a fascinating place to be and you could feel the history oozing out of the trees.

Before I went to Gettysburg, I like all American schooled children knew and had memorized some part or all of the Gettysburg Address.

Four score and seven years ago . . .

What I didn't know and found very interesting was the background of Lincoln giving the Gettysburg Address. Over 6,000 soldiers died in July of 1863 at Gettysburg, making it the bloodiest battle in Civil War history. The nation decided to design a cemetery for those killed to honor them and the battle; Soldiers' National Cemetery. A famous orator and Massachusetts politician of the time, Edward Everett was asked to be the keynote speaker at the cemetery's dedication in November of 1863.  Everett gave a 2 hour long speech that day.  Lincoln had been asked to come and "give a few appropriate remarks".  He gave a 2 minute speech that day; Gettysburg Address. Afterwards, in a letter Everett wrote to Lincoln, "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." 

That comment by Everett made me want to read and reread Lincoln's speech.  I sat at the museum on Saturday and did just that.  He's right, Lincoln captured the essence of the moment, the feelings of the people of the time and the importance of that day in 2 minutes. That is a good speech. No, that is a phenomenal speech.  

I think a lot of us could learn from that.  Be wise with the words you choose.  Be thoughtful in what you say.  Be clear and concise and make an impact.  

After the two political conventions we are currently in the middle of,  we all might wish there was another Abraham Lincoln out there  . . . and maybe not just for his speeches.

Gettysburg Adress:

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 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.

Read more history of the Gettysburg Address here.