Abraham Lincoln · President
The Union dead at Gettysburg
Four months after one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, he does not try to retell it. He gives the dead a larger meaning, then stops before he says a word too many.
- Year
- 1863
- Where
- Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
- Full text
- Public domain
“The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.”
Why it works
It is short on purpose
Edward Everett spoke for two hours that day and spoke well. Lincoln took two minutes. One of those speeches is on the wall of a memorial. Length is not respect, and a grieving room cannot hold much.
It hands the work to the audience
The last third stops talking about the dead and gives the living something to do. That is why it does not end in despair. Ending on something to carry forward can leave people steadier than ending on a summary.
Plain words, hard ideas
The language is simple. The thinking is not. Plain words are also easier to say aloud when your voice is unsteady.
Use this in your own
Write it, then cut it in half. What survives is usually the speech.