Abraham Lincoln

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here . . .

From his "Gettysburg Address," which was delivered on this date in 1863 -- four and a half months after the greatest battle ever fought in the Western Hemisphere.

Lincoln was dead wrong, of course.  No other speech by an American is as well known or more admired than his.

  

Even the French admired it.  The current French constitution states that the guiding principle of the French republic is "gouvernement du peuple, par le peuple et pour le peuple" -- "government of the people, by the people, and for the people."

There are five surviving manuscripts of the Gettysburg Address.  The latest one -- the Bliss copy, which has become the standard version of the address -- contains only 273 words.  How many e-mails have I written that are longer than 273 words?  More than I can count.  How many of them will be noted and remembered?  Not a single one. 

Lincoln at Gettysburg