This year marks the 150th anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg, which took place on July 1 – 3, 1863. Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, which is one of the most famous speeches in American history, was delivered on November 18, 1863, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, four and a half months after the battle.
I learned some fascinating details about Lincoln’s speech in Allen Guelzo’s Gettysburg: The Last Invasion.
Despite being November, it was a warm, hazy day, and the crowds were so densely packed along the parade route up Cemetery Hill that several women, and at least one man, fainted. There were about 15,000 spectators present on that day.
Lincoln was still working on his remarks right up until the parade began, crossing out phrases, rewriting sentences, inserting new words. (478) In an early draft, Lincoln planned to open with “How long ago is it?—eighty odd years?” He changed it to the more Biblical sounding “Four score and seven years ago…”
And here’s another cool fact. Lincoln had to have been familiar with a speech given by Speaker of the House Galusha Grow on July 4, 1861, which was widely disseminated. It began like this:
Fourscore years ago, fifty-six bold merchants, farmers, lawyers, and mechanics, the representatives of a few feeble colonists, scattered along the Atlantic sea-board, met in convention to found a new empire, based on the inalienable rights of man.
I mean, please. Compare the rhythm and cadence of the above passage with the opening of Lincoln’s speech. It’s pretty strikingly similar, isn’t it? According to Guelzo, Lincoln had no problem adopting and improving upon other people’s speeches. (479)
On that day in Gettysburg, Lincoln was preceded by the orator Edward Everett, who delivered a 13,000-word, two-hour snoozer. (Lincoln wasn’t a fan of Everett’s—he once described the orator as one of the most overrated public speakers in America.)
After Everett finally sat down, the president stood up and delivered his address in a little over two and a half minutes. A photographer trying to take Lincoln’s picture didn’t even have time to get his wet glass plate ready to capture an image.
If you want to read Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, you can find it here.