On this date in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln stood up in front of a crowd of 15,000 attendees, to dedicate a new national cemetery in Gettysburg, PA. He was not the featured speaker of the day. He followed Edward Everett, the Harvard University president and U.S. Senator. Everett had just delivered a two-hour discourse that had described the Battle of Gettysburg in great detail, and had brought the audience to tears.
Lincoln pulled his speech from his pocket, and began in his rather high-pitched Kentucky twang, "Four score and seven years ago..." 10 sentences and 2 minutes later...Lincoln sat down before much of the audience had realized that he had even spoken. (btw...Lincoln did not read words that he had written on the back of an envelope, hastily composed on the train ride from Washington. This is an urban legend.)
Today, the Gettysburg Address is one of the most-quoted speeches in American history. In 272 words, Lincoln made an eloquent connection between the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Everett's 13,607 word oration? Not so much.
For an erudite discussion on this topic, you must read Gary Wills', "Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America". In this masterpiece that was honored with the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Award, Wills provides a definitive deconstruction of one of America's greatest speeches
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