A. Lincoln's address at Gettysburgh

tucho58 | 03:37 Sat 25th Dec 2004 | History

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why is A. Lincoln's address at Gettysburgh so famous..

is it the speech "per se" or the english

Three Wise Men

mary

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maxi29

This is obviously subjective but I reckon it's the terseness of the prose that is so memorable. The whole speech is probably fewer than 200 words and it covers the foundation of the US, the dedication of the war cemetery, a tribute to the war dead and a memorable definition of democracy that stands up well today. One only has to listen to the prolixity of some modern-day politicians to realise how incredible that is.

The other element of the Gettysburg address is that the USA has very few set piece speeches. American history is only 200 or so years old (having carefully wiped out traces of any existing culture) so they haven't got too many great examples of rhetoric.

Having said that, Lincoln's speech would stand out anywhere.

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