Lincoln Critiquing the Gettysburg Address

[frontrank2]

"I doubt that our national literature contains a finer gem than that little speech at the Gettysburg celebration."
- Horace Greeley, New York Tribune.

 

[frontrank2]

"Not a sovereign in Europe, however trained from the cradle for state pomps, and however prompted by statesmen and courtiers, could have uttered himself more regally than did Lincoln at Gettysburg."
-Goldwin Smith, 19th Century British historian and journalist.

 

[frontrank2]

"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."
Edward Everett Former Secretary of State, U.S. Senator, Diplomat, Harvard President

 

[JOHN42768]

They sum it up very well. Hard to improve on anything that fabulous

 

[frontrank2]

And on the other side of the coin:
"We pass over the silly remarks of the President. For the credit of the nation we are willing that the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them, and that they shall be no more repeated or thought of."
The Union and Patriot - newspaper based out of Harrisburg, Pa.

 

[Copperhead-mi]

"We pass over the silly remarks of the President. For the credit of the nation we are willing that the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them and that they shall be no more repeated or thought of."
November 24, 1863 Harrisburg Patriot and Union (PA.) newspaper

On November 14, 2013 the newspaper retracted their Gettysburg Address comments made 150 years prior.

Edit - did not realize frontrank had already posted this same comment.

 

[Copperhead-mi]

"The Lord's Prayer is 66 words, the Gettysburg Address is 286 words, there are 1.322 words in the Declaration of Independence, but government regulations on the sale of cabbage total 26.911 words. The difference between literature and journalism is that journalism is unreadable and literature is not read."
Oscar Wilde

I don't agree at all with this but...
"The only thing wrong with Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was that it was the South, not the North, that was fighting for a government of the people, by the people and for the people."
H.L. Mencken

 

[JOHN42768]

The Lords Prayer is exactly that and not composed by mere man. The Declaration was a composition of many men's input . Sale of cabbage I won't go there. Not saying the Lord's Prayer and the Declaration are not great also. This started out about the Gettysburg Address and opinions on it.
Regarding Mencken opinion, we could banter till the cows come home and would not get it resolved.
I know you have to break some eggs to make an omelet.

 

[frontrank2]

" The cheek of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat, and dish-watery utterances of the man who has to be pointed out to intelligent foreigners as President of the United States."

Attributed to The Chicago Times, following President Abraham Lincoln's address at Gettysburg on November 19, 1863.—Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, vol. 2, p. 472 (1939); no date of issue for the Times is given.

 

[Burning Billy]

"The Lord's Prayer is 66 words, the Gettysburg Address is 286 words, there are 1.322 words in the Declaration of Independence, but government regulations on the sale of cabbage total 26.911 words. The difference between literature and journalism is that journalism is unreadable and literature is not read."
Oscar Wilde

I don't agree at all with this but...
"The only thing wrong with Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was that it was the South, not the North, that was fighting for a government of the people, by the people and for the people."
H.L. Mencken

H.L. Mencken's assessment is the most foolish critique of the Gettysburg Address posted in this thread so far.
Considering H.L. Mencken's views on race (he was a ****), I'm not surprised however to read that he was also indifferent to how a Confederate victory would have impacted the rights of 4 million black Americans.

 

[Copperhead-mi]

A Columbus, Ohio Copperhead newspaper, the Crisis, wrote in its December 2, 1863 edition that "[T]he President read a mawkish harrangue about this 'war for freedom' of the negro by the destruction of the liberties of American citizens."

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

Some snark from Richmond. Article unsurprisingly didn't like anything said or done that day though.

 

[Copperhead-mi]

"The President and the Cabinet were there, with famous soldiers and civilians. The oration by Mr. Everett was smooth and cold. Delivered, doubtless, with his accustomed graces, it yet wanted one stirring thought, one vivid picture, one thrilling appeal.
"The few words of the President were from the heart to the heart. They can not be read, even, without kindling emotion. 'The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.' It was as simple and felicitous and earnest a word as was ever spoken. "
Harper's Weekly, November 21, 1863

 

[arjo1861]

I'm British, I've made a living out of words for 30 odd years. The Gettysburg Address is sublime. It sends shiversdiown my spine every time I hear it or read it. If I knew nothing else about Lincoln than that speech, I should still consider him a great man.

 

[KHyatt]

Thanks @arjo1861. I had the privilege of visiting the Lincoln Memorial last December. While numerous tourists rushed in and out to get their selfies with Old Abe, I think I was the only person in about 15 minutes' time who actually looked up and took the time to read the inscriptions on the walls, including the Gettysburg Address. (As I recall the other inscription is from the Second Inaugural Address.) Sublime is as good a word as I can find for it.

 

[arjo1861]

Thanks @arjo1861. I had the privilege of visiting the Lincoln Memorial last December. While numerous tourists rushed in and out to get their selfies with Old Abe, I think I was the only person in about 15 minutes' time who actually looked up and took the time to read the inscriptions on the walls, including the Gettysburg Address. (As I recall the other inscription is from the Second Inaugural Address.) Sublime is as good a word as I can find for it.

My wife & I visited it in 2013. It was quite quiet whilst we were there. Very moving.

 

[frontrank2]

When Mr Lincoln gave this short speech ( so short that the photographer didn't have the time to set up his camera ), upon it's conclusion, he apparently felt disappointment thinking that his speech had failed and would be forgotten. He turned to his friend and bodyguard Ward Hill Lamon and said " That speech won't scour."
Back in the 1800's, a plow that didn't scour was one where the soil would clump together on the blade requiring frequent stops to clean it off, possibly preventing the seeds from taking root and growing properly.

 

[unionblue]

Thanks @arjo1861. I had the privilege of visiting the Lincoln Memorial last December. While numerous tourists rushed in and out to get their selfies with Old Abe, I think I was the only person in about 15 minutes' time who actually looked up and took the time to read the inscriptions on the walls, including the Gettysburg Address. (As I recall the other inscription is from the Second Inaugural Address.) Sublime is as good a word as I can find for it.

@KHyatt ,

My wife and I visited the Lincoln Memorial a few years ago. It was in the summer, hot as Hades and crowded with people. But when we both took the time to stop and read the words on the walls there, everybody seemed to fade away and the memory of the heat was gone. For a few seconds, the words of this great man seemed to come alive and speak directly to us.

Then, all was hot and crowded again, and we turned away to see other monuments and places. But we never forgot those few seconds where the words spoke to us.

Sincerely,
Unionblue