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Edward Everett
Edward Everett
President Lincoln gave his famous 2 minute Gettysburg Address, at the dedication of the national cemetery but the Gettysburg Address was NOT the opening speech, at the dedication. The opening speech was made by Edward Everett, a noted orator from Massachusetts; it lasted 2 hours, followed by President Lincoln's 2 minute address.
The Gettysburg Address is most likely short because (1 point)Abraham Lincoln intended to limit his subject.Abraham Lincoln intended to get his point across quickly.Abraham Lincoln was a skilled orator
The orator Edward Everett spoke before Lincoln did for several hours - about what I don't know. I don't know if that speech still exists today. tom Engler
The Gettysburg Address was delivered at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, during the US Civil War, four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the decisive Battle of Gettysburg. Lincoln was invited as the second speaker and many people in Pennsylvania did not believe the US president should be the main speaker. In fact the nation's greatest orator took over two hours in his opening speech. Lincoln's speech was less than two minutes but actually had more meaning.
In the period of the US Civil War, there was no debate as to who was the best orator in the nation. It was Edward Everett. He was the president of Harvard and once was the US Secretary of State. Civic leaders asked him and President Lincoln to give speeches after the Battle of Gettysburg.
Abraham Lincoln is reputed to have been a great orator.
US President Abraham Lincoln was invited to the dedication of the Gettysburg cemetery where thousands of soldiers had been buried as a result of the large scale three day battle that had occurred there in the previous Summer of 1863. It is called the Battle of Gettysburg. Lincoln was not the principle speaker, and historians make it clear that Lincoln was invited out of pure courtesy and as a formality. The key speaker was Edward Everett, known as the greatest orator of his time. Nevertheless, President Lincoln made a remarkable speech which took about two minutes. By comparison, Everett spoke for almost two hours.Lincoln's short speech contained ten sentences and is remembered as one of the best and most touching speeches ever given. Certainly the best speech of the Civil War, and must rank as one of America's finest speeches ever given. American students and historians have made the speech by Lincoln, known as the Gettysburg Address, a speech to be studied for the purpose of understanding how Lincoln felt about the terrible war and how it affected the United States.
Short answer: Edward Everett of Massachusetts. Everett, a statesman and a renowned orator, perhaps the most famous of the day, was asked to give the main address at the dedication of the cemetery. In the style of the day, he offered an ornate two-hour oration, "The Battles of Gettysburg," reviewing the battle of Gettysburg and relating it to great battles of the ages. An invitation was extended to President Lincoln to speak as well, to "formally set apart these grounds to their sacred use by a few appropriate remarks". The result was, of course, his famous "Gettysburg Address". In fact, Everett wrote to Lincoln afterward and compared their speeches with the remark, "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." Two other speakers were included in the ceremony: the Rev Thomas H. Stockton, Chaplain of the U.S. Senate (and previously Chaplain of the House of Representatives), offered the opening prayer; the Rev Henry Louis Baugher, Lutheran pastor and President of nearby Pennsylvania College (later renamed "Gettysburg College") gave the benediction. (To complete the program -- the spoken remarks and prayers alternated with two band pieces and two choral selections, one of he latter having been especially composed for the occasion.)
Of the five known manuscript copies of the Gettysburg Address, the Library of Congress has two. President Lincoln gave one of these to each of his two private secretaries, John Nicolay and John Hay. The other three copies of the Address were written by Lincoln for charitable purposes well after November 19. The copy for Edward Everett, the orator who spoke at Gettysburg for two hours prior to Lincoln, is at the Illinois State Historical Library in Springfield; the Bancroft copy, requested by historian George Bancroft, is at Cornell University in New York; the Bliss copy was made for Colonel Alexander Bliss, Bancroft's stepson, and is now in the Lincoln Room of the White House. Source: http://myloc.gov/exhibitions/gettysburgaddress/Pages/default.aspx
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