WASHINGTON—This year is the 150th anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg and of the Gettysburg Address, one of the most revered speeches in American history.
Commemoration events have been three years in the planning at Gettysburg and include a battle re-enactment with 10,000 participants. While that is in July, particularly significant will be a commemoration by President Barack Obama. Obama is expected to rededicate Abraham Lincoln’s famous speech at the Soldiers’ National Cemetery, on Nov. 19, the same place and the same day it was delivered in 1863.
When the speech is rededicated by the first African-American president in the nation’s history, the poignancy of the moment will not be lost on America, or indeed the world. Obama will be acknowledging those that died to pave the way for his presence on the podium that day. It is also likely he will draw on the bigger themes of the address: equality, the Union, and democratic government.
The Gettysburg Address is the most widely quoted of any American speech, exalted for its simplicity and its powerful reach. The speech itself is tiny, not more that a few minutes long, consisting of only 10 sentences, around 270 words.
A rare original of the speech is drawing crowds at the Library of Congress in Washington, where it has just been put on display as part of the Civil War in America exhibit. The Hay copy is one of only five original versions of the speech, handwritten by Lincoln and given to John Hay, one of his personal secretaries.
