Is the Gettysburg Address overrated?

This is believed to be the actual text

Amidst all the coverage today of the 150^thanniversary of the Gettsyburg Address, Forbes has some standout material thanks to some history buffs.

Brian Domitrovic, a history professor at Sam Houston State in Texas, notes that if you type the words “Gettysburg Address overrated” into a Google search, you get basically no hits.

“In this day and age,” Domitrovic wrote, “when (nothing) in an Internet search turns up zilch, it is remarkable in its own right. That some of the most foundational words in this nation’s -- in modernity’s -- history do not find a minimum of web trolls is outright strange.

“It would appear that there is an English-language consensus that the Gettysburg Address -- the brief and ultra-famous speech that Abraham Lincoln gave 150 years ago today, on November 19, 1863 -- remains a paragon of political oratory.”

Domitrovic then wades into dangerous territory that may bring the trolls out in force – he offers a detailed critique of the president’s text.

The Lincoln speech certainly has outlasted the remarks given that same day by Edward Everett. According to Nathan Raab, a historical consultant, the Keynote Speaker at the Gettysburg ceremony was not Lincoln but Everett, the former Secretary of State, who gave a 2-hour speech, which he memorized.

This is the only photo of Lincoln  speaking

It’s bizarre to think that, at a wartime event marking the creation of a cemetery for the fallen at the battle of Gettysburg, the president would serve as a secondary speaker. Historical letters have indicated that Everett told Lincoln afterward that he wished he could have said something as profound in his two hours as the president did in about two minutes.

While many Americans who have not read the iconic address since high school have forgotten that the text consists of just 10 sentences and the speech lasted just a few minutes, one well-worn myth about Lincoln’s actions that day still survives.

Raab wrote that many of us were taught that Lincoln hurriedly scrawled the speech on the train to Gettysburg the day of his address.  Not true. While it’s unclear which of the early drafts contains the words actually spoken by Lincoln, Raab pointed out that the tale of the quick jotting by the president was spread by a work of fiction published in 1906, “The Perfect Tribute,” by Mary Raymond Shipman.  

***** 

You might also want to take a look at today's story by The Macomb Daily's Don Gardner, who explains why a speech that has received such adulation almost never happened.