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156th Anniversary Of The Gettysburg Address

Zam-Zam

Senator


This Sunday, Feb. 5, 1865 photo made available by the Library of Congress shows President Abraham Lincoln in Washington. This image is last photo in the president's last photo session during his life. (AP Photo/Library of Congress, Alexander Gardner)




"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here," said Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg 156 years ago today. Would he really be surprised that the 247 words he scribbled on two pieces of paper (not on the back of an envelope) to give a "few appropriate remarks" at the dedication of the cemetery at Gettysburg would go down in history as The Great Emancipator's greatest utterances?

I think he would be. There was no artifice to Lincoln's public speeches. After all, he was to follow the greatest orator of the age, Edward Everett, and was apparently only invited to the dedication ceremony as something of an afterthought. The invitation to Lincoln to attend and make his "appropriate remarks" wasn't sent until November 2.


In those days, listening to political orations was the national pastime, and Everett was a superstar. In an age before microphones, he enthralled audiences with his booming, expressive voice, flowery language, and exaggerated gesturing. He was a former congressman, senator, governor of Massachusetts, secretary of state, and president of Harvard -- easily one of the greatest Americans of his time. His speech at Gettysburg was full of classical allusions, poetry, and shameful emotional manipulation.

And the people ate it up

But after he spoke and heard Lincoln speak, he wrote the president, “I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes.”

The "central idea of the occasion" was to consecrate the ground where 150,000 Americans came to death grips on the battlefield to decide the future of the United States. A weighty job it was. There were 3,200 Union soldiers buried there, and given the gravity of the event, the commemoration deserved as much pomp and circumstance as possible.

But Lincoln rode up on his horse rather than arrive by ornate carriage. He was seated near the end of the dais -- something of a lost personality among the star politicians and generals who attended. While Everett gave his oration, the president listened attentively. He was hatless and his wispy hair must have blown in the breeze that wafted across the cemetery.

That there was even a cemetery at Gettysburg was due to a local attorney, David Wills, who suggested the idea to the War Department. There was a little controversy when some Confederate soldiers ended up being buried there.

According to the National Park Service, Confederate soldiers were moved from the Gettysburg National Cemetery to cemeteries in Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina and Carolina, however, “a few Confederates do remain interred at Gettysburg National Cemetery.”


Interestingly, even before Lincoln spoke, one of the burial details asked a chaplain whether they should separate the bodies and bury them by state. The chaplain reportedly said, "No, no mix 'em all up. I am sick of states' rights." And that was the thrust of Lincoln's message at Gettysburg. He couldn't consecrate what had already been consecrated by blood. But the job of Americans was to honor that sacrifice by uniting the country and that "from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion." That cause was unity and that no state, or group of states, could change that.

We've often heard it said that before Gettysburg, the U.S. was known as "these United States" and afterward, as "the United States." This is what Lincoln was striving for, and he used the honored dead at Gettysburg to drive home the point.



Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.



Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

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. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. 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. 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.


https://pjmedia.com/trending/on-the-156th-anniversary-of-the-gettysburg-address-honoring-lincolns-vision/
 

Jack4freedom

Governor


This Sunday, Feb. 5, 1865 photo made available by the Library of Congress shows President Abraham Lincoln in Washington. This image is last photo in the president's last photo session during his life. (AP Photo/Library of Congress, Alexander Gardner)




"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here," said Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg 156 years ago today. Would he really be surprised that the 247 words he scribbled on two pieces of paper (not on the back of an envelope) to give a "few appropriate remarks" at the dedication of the cemetery at Gettysburg would go down in history as The Great Emancipator's greatest utterances?

I think he would be. There was no artifice to Lincoln's public speeches. After all, he was to follow the greatest orator of the age, Edward Everett, and was apparently only invited to the dedication ceremony as something of an afterthought. The invitation to Lincoln to attend and make his "appropriate remarks" wasn't sent until November 2.


In those days, listening to political orations was the national pastime, and Everett was a superstar. In an age before microphones, he enthralled audiences with his booming, expressive voice, flowery language, and exaggerated gesturing. He was a former congressman, senator, governor of Massachusetts, secretary of state, and president of Harvard -- easily one of the greatest Americans of his time. His speech at Gettysburg was full of classical allusions, poetry, and shameful emotional manipulation.

And the people ate it up

But after he spoke and heard Lincoln speak, he wrote the president, “I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes.”

The "central idea of the occasion" was to consecrate the ground where 150,000 Americans came to death grips on the battlefield to decide the future of the United States. A weighty job it was. There were 3,200 Union soldiers buried there, and given the gravity of the event, the commemoration deserved as much pomp and circumstance as possible.

But Lincoln rode up on his horse rather than arrive by ornate carriage. He was seated near the end of the dais -- something of a lost personality among the star politicians and generals who attended. While Everett gave his oration, the president listened attentively. He was hatless and his wispy hair must have blown in the breeze that wafted across the cemetery.

That there was even a cemetery at Gettysburg was due to a local attorney, David Wills, who suggested the idea to the War Department. There was a little controversy when some Confederate soldiers ended up being buried there.

According to the National Park Service, Confederate soldiers were moved from the Gettysburg National Cemetery to cemeteries in Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina and Carolina, however, “a few Confederates do remain interred at Gettysburg National Cemetery.”


Interestingly, even before Lincoln spoke, one of the burial details asked a chaplain whether they should separate the bodies and bury them by state. The chaplain reportedly said, "No, no mix 'em all up. I am sick of states' rights." And that was the thrust of Lincoln's message at Gettysburg. He couldn't consecrate what had already been consecrated by blood. But the job of Americans was to honor that sacrifice by uniting the country and that "from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion." That cause was unity and that no state, or group of states, could change that.

We've often heard it said that before Gettysburg, the U.S. was known as "these United States" and afterward, as "the United States." This is what Lincoln was striving for, and he used the honored dead at Gettysburg to drive home the point.



Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.



Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

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. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. 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. 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.


https://pjmedia.com/trending/on-the-156th-anniversary-of-the-gettysburg-address-honoring-lincolns-vision/
Because of men like Lincoln and others who proceeded and followed him in office along with Senators and Congressmen who also continue to protect and defend the US Constitution our country endures. The US is stronger and more dedicated to those principles than ever.
 


This Sunday, Feb. 5, 1865 photo made available by the Library of Congress shows President Abraham Lincoln in Washington. This image is last photo in the president's last photo session during his life. (AP Photo/Library of Congress, Alexander Gardner)




"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here," said Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg 156 years ago today. Would he really be surprised that the 247 words he scribbled on two pieces of paper (not on the back of an envelope) to give a "few appropriate remarks" at the dedication of the cemetery at Gettysburg would go down in history as The Great Emancipator's greatest utterances?

I think he would be. There was no artifice to Lincoln's public speeches. After all, he was to follow the greatest orator of the age, Edward Everett, and was apparently only invited to the dedication ceremony as something of an afterthought. The invitation to Lincoln to attend and make his "appropriate remarks" wasn't sent until November 2.


In those days, listening to political orations was the national pastime, and Everett was a superstar. In an age before microphones, he enthralled audiences with his booming, expressive voice, flowery language, and exaggerated gesturing. He was a former congressman, senator, governor of Massachusetts, secretary of state, and president of Harvard -- easily one of the greatest Americans of his time. His speech at Gettysburg was full of classical allusions, poetry, and shameful emotional manipulation.

And the people ate it up

But after he spoke and heard Lincoln speak, he wrote the president, “I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes.”

The "central idea of the occasion" was to consecrate the ground where 150,000 Americans came to death grips on the battlefield to decide the future of the United States. A weighty job it was. There were 3,200 Union soldiers buried there, and given the gravity of the event, the commemoration deserved as much pomp and circumstance as possible.

But Lincoln rode up on his horse rather than arrive by ornate carriage. He was seated near the end of the dais -- something of a lost personality among the star politicians and generals who attended. While Everett gave his oration, the president listened attentively. He was hatless and his wispy hair must have blown in the breeze that wafted across the cemetery.

That there was even a cemetery at Gettysburg was due to a local attorney, David Wills, who suggested the idea to the War Department. There was a little controversy when some Confederate soldiers ended up being buried there.

According to the National Park Service, Confederate soldiers were moved from the Gettysburg National Cemetery to cemeteries in Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina and Carolina, however, “a few Confederates do remain interred at Gettysburg National Cemetery.”


Interestingly, even before Lincoln spoke, one of the burial details asked a chaplain whether they should separate the bodies and bury them by state. The chaplain reportedly said, "No, no mix 'em all up. I am sick of states' rights." And that was the thrust of Lincoln's message at Gettysburg. He couldn't consecrate what had already been consecrated by blood. But the job of Americans was to honor that sacrifice by uniting the country and that "from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion." That cause was unity and that no state, or group of states, could change that.

We've often heard it said that before Gettysburg, the U.S. was known as "these United States" and afterward, as "the United States." This is what Lincoln was striving for, and he used the honored dead at Gettysburg to drive home the point.



Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.



Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

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. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. 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. 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.


https://pjmedia.com/trending/on-the-156th-anniversary-of-the-gettysburg-address-honoring-lincolns-vision/

And the beat goes on as the festering wound has been reopened/resurrected.
 
Because of men like Lincoln and others who proceeded and followed him in office along with Senators and Congressmen who also continue to protect and defend the US Constitution our country endures. The US is stronger and more dedicated to those principles than ever.
We have not had a legal constitutional war since WWII, yet we have a military occupational presence in 70% of the nation states on the planet as we support 73% of the dictatorships on the planet.
 

Jack4freedom

Governor
We have not had a legal constitutional war since WWII, yet we have a military occupational presence in 70% of the nation states on the planet as we support 73% of the dictatorships on the planet.
We still have the right and opportunity to elect representatives who could change the direction of our disgusting foreign policy of the past century. It is up to We The People to educate ourselves and elect a better class of representatives. In November 2020 we have another opportunity to turn things around in that regard.
 
We still have the right and opportunity to elect representatives who could change the direction of our disgusting foreign policy of the past century. It is up to We The People to educate ourselves and elect a better class of representatives. In November 2020 we have another opportunity to turn things around in that regard.
You have an opportunity to select between donor class chosen candidates, we the people are utterly subjugated and submissive in response, and the voting rights of many are under constant attack. The power structure knows where it is. This is why the police have been militarized, why the people are under constant corporate state surveillance, why we're incrementally introducing the normalization of internment/concentration camps into society, and why the people are being sold via fear the notion of being walled in as a good thing.
 

Jack4freedom

Governor
You have an opportunity to select between donor class chosen candidates, we the people are utterly subjugated and submissive in response, and the voting rights of many are under constant attack. The power structure knows where it is. This is why the police have been militarized, why the people are under constant corporate state surveillance, why we're incrementally introducing interment/concentration camps into society, and why the people are being sold via fear the notion of being walled in as a good thing.
in some cases as with Sanders campaign this “donor class” is represented by millions of donors contributing an average of $25. Ideally, it would be better to get most if not all of the money out of politics but until that occurs we need to continue to try to move in the right direction. Many of our congressional and statewide officials have been elected by way of grass roots support.
 
in some cases as with Sanders campaign this “donor class” is represented by millions of donors contributing an average of $25. Ideally, it would be better to get most if not all of the money out of politics but until that occurs we need to continue to try to move in the right direction. Many of our congressional and statewide officials have been elected by way of grass roots support.
No, the donor class is most certainly NOT represented by millions of donors contributing an average of $25. "The right direction? Review the Powell Memorandum and the Trilateral Commission publication A Crisis of Democracy.

Here's our utterly bipartisan direction, the link below the graph takes the data out to 2018.


upload_2020-1-14_15-9-25.png
https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/

There's that wealth redistribution everyone's always blaming on those who got hosed.
 

Sunset Rose

Mayor
Supporting Member


This Sunday, Feb. 5, 1865 photo made available by the Library of Congress shows President Abraham Lincoln in Washington. This image is last photo in the president's last photo session during his life. (AP Photo/Library of Congress, Alexander Gardner)




"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here," said Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg 156 years ago today. Would he really be surprised that the 247 words he scribbled on two pieces of paper (not on the back of an envelope) to give a "few appropriate remarks" at the dedication of the cemetery at Gettysburg would go down in history as The Great Emancipator's greatest utterances?

I think he would be. There was no artifice to Lincoln's public speeches. After all, he was to follow the greatest orator of the age, Edward Everett, and was apparently only invited to the dedication ceremony as something of an afterthought. The invitation to Lincoln to attend and make his "appropriate remarks" wasn't sent until November 2.


In those days, listening to political orations was the national pastime, and Everett was a superstar. In an age before microphones, he enthralled audiences with his booming, expressive voice, flowery language, and exaggerated gesturing. He was a former congressman, senator, governor of Massachusetts, secretary of state, and president of Harvard -- easily one of the greatest Americans of his time. His speech at Gettysburg was full of classical allusions, poetry, and shameful emotional manipulation.

And the people ate it up

But after he spoke and heard Lincoln speak, he wrote the president, “I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes.”

The "central idea of the occasion" was to consecrate the ground where 150,000 Americans came to death grips on the battlefield to decide the future of the United States. A weighty job it was. There were 3,200 Union soldiers buried there, and given the gravity of the event, the commemoration deserved as much pomp and circumstance as possible.

But Lincoln rode up on his horse rather than arrive by ornate carriage. He was seated near the end of the dais -- something of a lost personality among the star politicians and generals who attended. While Everett gave his oration, the president listened attentively. He was hatless and his wispy hair must have blown in the breeze that wafted across the cemetery.

That there was even a cemetery at Gettysburg was due to a local attorney, David Wills, who suggested the idea to the War Department. There was a little controversy when some Confederate soldiers ended up being buried there.

According to the National Park Service, Confederate soldiers were moved from the Gettysburg National Cemetery to cemeteries in Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina and Carolina, however, “a few Confederates do remain interred at Gettysburg National Cemetery.”


Interestingly, even before Lincoln spoke, one of the burial details asked a chaplain whether they should separate the bodies and bury them by state. The chaplain reportedly said, "No, no mix 'em all up. I am sick of states' rights." And that was the thrust of Lincoln's message at Gettysburg. He couldn't consecrate what had already been consecrated by blood. But the job of Americans was to honor that sacrifice by uniting the country and that "from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion." That cause was unity and that no state, or group of states, could change that.

We've often heard it said that before Gettysburg, the U.S. was known as "these United States" and afterward, as "the United States." This is what Lincoln was striving for, and he used the honored dead at Gettysburg to drive home the point.



Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.



Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

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. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. 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. 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.


https://pjmedia.com/trending/on-the-156th-anniversary-of-the-gettysburg-address-honoring-lincolns-vision/
President Lincoln aged rapidly during the Civil War. Look at a picture of him when he was first elected President in 1860, then look at a picture of him in 1865. It's like he aged 15 years in the space of 5 years. That war truly took a toll on him.
 

Zam-Zam

Senator
President Lincoln aged rapidly during the Civil War. Look at a picture of him when he was first elected President in 1860, then look at a picture of him in 1865. It's like he aged 15 years in the space of 5 years. That war truly took a toll on him.

It's a tough job for anyone, but for no one more than Lincoln, who was tasked with preserving a nation at perhaps it's most critical juncture.
 
It's a tough job for anyone, but for no one more than Lincoln, who was tasked with preserving a nation at perhaps it's most critical juncture.
An utterly ignorant self-imposed "critical juncture"; when America's lofty vacuous rhetoric slammed into its own reality.
 

JackDallas

Senator
Supporting Member
Here's another cool picture from Lincoln's inauguration. Note the Capitol building under construction:

Completion of construction of the Capitol building was in the early 1800s.
During the Civil War, the work you see here was repairs and renovation.
 
Completion of construction of the Capitol building was in the early 1800s.
During the Civil War, the work you see here was repairs and renovation.
Built by slaves, just like America itself.
 

Zam-Zam

Senator
At the time of President Lincoln's remarks, not everyone was impressed:

in what might be one of the oldest corrections in the history of journalism, the editorial board of a Pennsylvania newspaper has retracted its predecessor's famous panning of President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address as "silly remarks."

"Seven score and ten years ago, the forefathers of this media institution brought forth to its audience a judgment so flawed, so tainted by hubris, so lacking in the perspective history would bring, that it cannot remain unaddressed in our archives," the editors of The Patriot-News wrote Thursday, evoking the opening words and style of Lincoln's most famous speech.

Back then, the editors of the Patriot & Union newspaper -- an ancestor of today's Harrisburg paper -- thought so little of Lincoln's "silly remarks" that they hoped "the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them, and that they shall be no more reposted or thought of."

Oopsie.

History didn't cooperate.



Complete text: https://www.cnn.com/2013/11/15/us/gettysburg-address-editorial-retraction/index.html


Hard to imagine now, but there it is.
 
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