146 Years Have Passed

[Mickey Richaud]

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

 

[Bayless]

Some of the most powerful words ever spoken!

 

[tony barnhill]

Facing low morale in the Union Army & amongst the general population, Lincoln feared he'd be defeated in the upcoming election; so, that speech was designed to sustain the Union's spirits toward the war effort. It did & he won reelection only to be assassinated on 15 April, 1865 - 17 months after making the Gettysburg speech!

 

[vagt6]

A giant among men, and an honest politician.

We need more like him today, and always.

What a guy!

 

[MikeP]

And how many remember that Edward Everett, as principal speaker, spoke for 2 hours before Lincoln got his turn.

 

[aerog]

And how many remember that Edward Everett, as principal speaker, spoke for 2 hours before Lincoln got his turn.

In an age where an embarrassing number of 20-30somethings don't know what D-Day was, don't know what December 7th was, and don't know the important details of the Civil War (if anything) I wouldn't be at all surprised if they didn't know what the Gettysburg Address was.

In my county schools in Virginia the entire subject of the Civil War was hardly spoken of. We didn't cover the Gettysburg Address at all. What's worse is that particular school was built within sight of civil war trenches that were still very much there, a mile from the first railroad built specifically for military use, and just minutes from the site of the two major battles of the war. Instead of learning about the subject for both the historic influences and importance to the country <span style="font-style: italic">and</span> the local history we spent months learning about Thailand and Nigeria (among other places).

In High School we went over American history a little more, but it wasn't a lot better. I remember being in the 11th grade and talking about going to Manassas (not but 10 miles away) and Gettysburg and nobody knew what I was talking about. We spent tons of money to take field trips to the National Gallery of Art, but never once went to any of the local Battlefields that are part of the National Park System.

Then again I don't know what a cup or pint is either because we were only taught the metric system. Somehow Betty Crocker didn't get that memo and recipes stateside don't tell you how many milliliters of water or milk to use in the mix.

 

[longbridgehealey]

I was born and raised in Gettysburg in the 50's. We had an incredible amount of civil war history in school. I can still recall the only living battle of Gettysburg survivor visiting for a ceremony in town, he was a drummer boy during the battle. Gettysburg in the fifties was a cauldron of history and current events, since President Eisenhower had his farm there. I went to school and played ball with his grandkids and their secret service details. The agants were pretty good umpires, unless the call went against one of the grandkids. How times have changed....

 

[aerog]

Gettysburg is a wonderful place in general. When I was a kid we looked at buying a place right across the street from the Eisenhower farm. I couldn't believe it when I was up there a few years ago and heard about a big push to open casinos around Gettysburg.

 

[longbridgehealey]

The town was up in arms about the casino idea - I'm not sure what the eventual outcome was. We take the Healey's up there quite often during the summer, great roads to drive, and I haven't heard anything about the casinos for awhile. Horrible idea!

Larry

 

[Mickey Richaud]

And how many remember that Edward Everett, as principal speaker, spoke for 2 hours before Lincoln got his turn.

I do, but only because there's a member in the parish I serve who's a direct descendant! Maiden name's Everett.

 

[Andrew Mace]

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

I apologize in advance for this, but I can never think of the Gettysburg Address without thinking of the classic Bob Newhart routine "Abe Lincoln vs. Madison Avenue"!

<span style="font-style: italic">You changed</span> four score and seven <span style="font-style: italic">to</span> EIGHTY-SEVEN?...<span style="font-style: italic">We test-marketed that in Erie, and they went out of their minds....Abe, do the speech the way Charlie wrote it!</span>

link to recording on the NPR site

 

[aerog]

His Analysis of Ben Franklin one was good too

 

[aerog]

The town was up in arms about the casino idea - I'm not sure what the eventual outcome was.

<span style="font-style: italic">In December 2006, after nearly two years of public outreach and engagement, town hall meetings, and national media attention, the local residents of No Casino Gettysburg joined NPCA and thousands of Americans nationwide in celebrating the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board's decision not to build a casino as proposed within cannon range of Gettysburg National Military Park.</span>


...now if they could only bring back Fantasy Land

 

[Roger]

I've just finished reading "Seen the Glory" by John Hough,Jr. It's a novel set around Getysburg - I recommend it.

 

[Sherlock]

Different country, but...

Here in Canada the way we teach our history is rather lacking at times, we never had an event quite comparable to a Gettysburg and the Civil War, but all the same we have still had key events that helped define our country, and it is just not taught well or I think often that many young people just don't really care about it anyway, they could learn more if they wanted to...

 

[AweMan]

Want to get a real eye opener?
If you have kids in College, sit them down the next time you have them home and ask them simple common sense questions about history, even recent history!
You will be shocked at what kind of an education your money is buying these days.