“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.”
People applauded for several minutes. The president turned to a friend. He said he feared his speech had been a failure. He said he should have prepared it more carefully.
But Edward Everett, the great speaker, knew he had heard a speech that expressed difficult thoughts and ideas clearly and simply. Mr. Everett recognized the power and the beauty of President Lincoln’s words. Later, he wrote to the president. He said Mr. Lincoln had said in two minutes what he had tried to say in two hours.
One newspaper said “The few words of the president were from the heart, to the heart. They cannot be read without emotion.”
Mr. Lincoln went back to Washington that night. Within a week, his secretary announced that the president was suffering from smallpox.
Edward Everett asked President Lincoln if he could have a copy of the speech. The president wrote a copy and sent it to him. The Everett copy is one of five known copies that President Lincoln wrote by hand.
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
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2013-11-25