Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

This brief discourse (it lasted only 2 min.) followed a two-hour oration by Edward Everett, the main speaker at the event and one of the most famous speakers of the time. In the contemporary newspaper reports of the dedication ceremonies, Everett's remarks were lauded highly and given prominence on the front page, while the words of Lincoln were relegated to an inside page. Everett, however, was sufficiently moved by the simple and sincere eloquence of Lincoln to write the following note to him on the day after the dedication: �I wish that I could flatter myself that I had come as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes.� Today, the Gettysburg Address by Lincoln is universally recognized not only as a classical model of the noblest kind of oratory but also as one of the most moving expressions of the democratic spirit ever uttered .

My favorite part:

�But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate�we cannot consecrate�we cannot 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.�


The idea is to get the point across in the clearest way so that it sticks in the listeners mind. For example today no one knows what Everett said but Lincoln's 2 min. speech rings powerful across the ages.