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The Gettysburg Address “A few appropriate remarks” [1]

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Date: 2024-06-09  

The invitation to speak was a condescending insult. No jokes Abe, stick to the point, Abe. Keep it short, Abe. You’re just a guest speaker, Abe.

President Lincoln had been invited to make a "few appropriate remarks” at the cemetery’s consecration. Some 15,000 people heard his speech. Less than 275 words in length, Lincoln’s three-minute-long Gettysburg Address defined the meaning of the Civil War.

Now, I do well realize there are volumes of details regarding the event, but I only want to focus on one.

It’s entirely possible that if 15,000 people were listening, they might have actually been able to hear Lincoln’s…few appropriate words.

We’ve read and heard the speech. Reading, our minds may silently achieve a personal understanding.

For the most part, we’ve heard it, repeatedly narrated by professional orators and actors. What we hear is like a whispered prayer by someone faking an imagined dialect — emoting.

But Lincoln knew speechcraft, and would have pitched his voice high enough so even the folks in the back could hear, whether they were listening or not. — here’s a nice one, and I’m fine with it:

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/9/2245641/-The-Gettysburg-Address-A-few-appropriate-remarks?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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