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“In his call for democracy and equality, (Lincoln) doesn’t mention slavery, but everyone knew that was what he was talking about,” Cornelius said.

More clever wordplay is at work in this famous quotation. That, and people tend to remember the beginnings of speeches, Cornelius said. “He’s putting forth straightforward political terms in a poetic way.” “He’s a little bit worried that the nation might die at about the average lifespan that a human would,” Cornelius said. Lincoln felt the United States was setting an example for the world, and he didn’t want the experiment in democracy to fail.

“And if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.”Ĭornelius said Lincoln used such phrasing as a subtle reminder that the nation was only a youthful 87 years old. “The days of our years are threescore years and 10,” says the psalm. This line is a bit of an inside remark shared with the audience, believed by most historians to be a reference to Psalm 90:10, which most people of the day would know is an allusion to the human lifespan. But no, in this case a score is 20 of something. Pretty much everyone knows this part of the Gettysburg Address, even if they think a score is just something from sports. Here is a nonexhaustive rundown of some of the most popular phrases in the speech, in order of appearance. His words are some of the most memorable in American history, forever stamping our collective minds with “four score and seven years ago,” and “all men are created equal,” and of course a “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” In some cities, people could buy commemorative event pamphlets that contained the speech, and key phrases were incorporated into Lincoln’s 1864 election posters and memorials after his death. On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln was able to get straight to the point and deliver a punchy speech in part because he came after Edward Everett’s marathon presentation about the war, explains James Cornelius, curator of the Lincoln Collection in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.Įverett had been the main attraction, but Lincoln’s speech started picking up steam afterward and seemed to “go viral” in the manner of its day. If Democracy won’t work here, it won’t work anywhere. Message: Stay the course of a difficult war. The Gettysburg Address was a quick-hitting speech that was built to last.