Today is the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, delivered at the dedication of the Gettysburg Cemetery in Gettysburg, PA on November 19, 1863.

The assembly had just heard a speech by noted orator Edward Everett, who spoke for two and one-half hours, using 13,607 words.  Quite honestly, today there are perhaps a handful of people who can remember any of what  he said.

The President, Abraham Lincoln, stood up at the podium, pulled a small slip of paper from his coat pocket, and began to speak the immortal words which began, “Four score and seven years ago….”  and then continued to its conclusion.

He had spoken for  approximately two minutes, and his  Address contained 273 words.

Lincoln turned from the podium and sat down, It is said that there was complete silence. Few, if any, applauded. All sat silently.  Lincoln was sure he had been a failure, that he had failed to adequately recognize the tremendous sacrifice of the War Between the States, and in so doing, he had failed his country as well.

Little would he know that through the years his  speech would go down in history as one of the finest bits of oratory ever given. The tall man, born in Kentucky, raised in Illinois, had given the United States words to think about, to treasure, forever.  They would be remembered just as the sacrifice of those men who died during the four years of the War.

And they would further ensure that “this government, of  the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

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