In honor of Thanksgiving this week, we want to take a look back at one of the most well-known and revered speeches in American history. Abraham Lincoln, our 16th U.S. president, delivered his famous Gettysburg Address on this day– November 19– 149 years ago in 1863. It was given at the dedication of the Solider’s National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, four months after the Union army had defeated the Confederate soliders in a brutal battle.
The speech was just over two minutes long, clocking in at a concise 278 words. And there’s the first lesson we can learn from Lincoln’s masterpiece: There is a wealth of power in brevity. This speech was delivered during the heart of the Civil War and it’s main point was clear from the first sentence: “all men are created equal.” Lincoln had no need to orate for 1,000 words on that statement because it’s meaning is inherent. Allowing the intrinsic truth to standalone in its concision left a significantly more powerful impact on the audience.
Lincoln’s smart use of language also helped the address leave such a lasting impression, which is the second lesson we can learn: Use repetition and rhythm to emphasize and enhance speech. Notice how Lincoln uses the rule of threes in two separate occasions in his speech. First with “we cannot dedicate… we cannot consecrate…. we cannot hallow,” and then with the now-immortal lines, “of the people, by the people, for the people.” Repetition begets rhythm, and these small inclusions lend the speech its epic nature. And Lincoln doesn’t go overboard with these techniques. Rather, he uses them to deliver some of the strongest points in the speech.
Listen to Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address below for inspiration to create an epic, unforgettable presentation. Aiming to deliver one of the most important speeches in history might not be your intention, but using some of Ole Abe’s tricks will certainly strengthen your presentation.
“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.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not 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.”
