Worthy evasions and delusions. If America were as it imagines, there would have been no civil war.

I arranged my takeaway thoughts into a haiku (as best as I could), as is my gimmick:

"Through the way we live,
We honor the dead more than
Any civic nod."

n  “It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.”n


President Abraham Lincoln’s remarks, delivered on November 19, 1863, outside of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Honoring the fallen military soldiers.

The reminder that our work is not done—that we must continue.

Speaks of our founding as a sovereign country.

Powerful and succinct.


n  “…A new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”n

The audio edition I "read" included some of the history prior to Lincoln's speech and some of the history after the reconstruction period, including some inspirational words from Martin Luther King.

In this entire speech, this is the only thing that really stuck with me:

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.

It's a beautiful thought, and a wonderful expression of the humbleness that we ought to have for the sacrifices of martyrs.

Sadly, the rest of the speech wasn't nearly as good. Lincoln paints the Civil War as a conflict for freedom, when the war was only partially (if at all) fought for the slaves. And yet he doesn't mention the slaves at all. Whose freedom, then, does he talk about? The freedom of the southern farmers whose lands were ravaged? By the prisoners of war on both sides, that succumbed to starvation and disease? The Civil War was fought savagely. It was one of the first total wars fought in the modern age, and many of the veterans (particularly of the North!) reappear as butchers in the Indian Wars. As the Bible says:

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

When a war is fought with such savagery, and brings such terrible consequences, then I need a little more than a Gettysburg Address to know that it was indeed fought for freedom, not for domination.

The choice of words

The choice of words, oh yeah. The simplicity with which he delivers the address is so mind blowing that it is impossible to not feel the action and ideas alive!

You can see that how heavily borrowed from this are even the century later speeches of the likes of Nixon, Kennedy etc.

It was a blessing and a honor to read the words of my favorite president, Abraham Lincoln.

I would like to respond to the unkind and unfair comments that the liberal press have made concerning Mr. Trump's recent speech, which they claim was plagiarized from President Lincoln's immortal words. There is absolutely no truth in these accusations. First, however much one may admire Lincoln, any American is allowed to express patriotic feelings without infringing his copyright. And second, Mr. Trump did not even say the same thing. Mr. Lincoln, as every schoolchild knows, said "government of the people, by the people, and for the people", but Mr. Trump said "government of the people, by the people, and for Mr. Trump".

Vote Trump!

He wrote his own speeches.

Read it long long ago in high school.

The Gettysburg Address has been the very base of the unity of the nation and her success. It was Lincoln's most valuable legacy left for the following generations.

It's the freaking Gettysburg Address. How can you not give it 5 stars? I could go for a shorter introduction by the author though.

I don't really care about your dad, guy. Get to the Lincoln talky bits.

Here are a few more thoughts. It has pictures, so that's cool. Off the top of my head, I would list the Gettysburg Address as a top 5 speech ever given.

Other than the GA (that's what I call it), there was the best man speech I gave at my friend's wedding, the impromptu speech in 9th grade English on my favorite movie (Tommy Boy), and of course my lovely speech in 7th grade when I demonstrated how to properly make an Ice Cream Sundae.

That speech even included some ad libbing to account for the difficulty I had getting the ice cream out of the tub. I ended up cutting the container from seam to seam in a glorious dairy evisceration that surely wowed and amazed. Needless to say, the crowd was left stunned and eventually sated.

I aim to please.