Today we are celebrating the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s 272-word masterpiece, delivered November 19, 1863.

Join hosts Dorian Francis and George Stephen as they dive into the short, upbeat, and surprisingly controversial story of the speech that redefined America.

Highlights:

• Was the Gettysburg Address a flop in 1863? (Spoiler: the old “nobody liked it” story is mostly myth – newspapers and letters from the time went wild for it.)
• The guy who spoke before Lincoln droned on for almost two hours. Abe wrapped it up in under three minutes. Legend.
• Lincoln finally says the quiet part out loud: the Civil War is about slavery, full stop.
• Honoring the dead on both sides – beautiful in 1863, but would Twitter cancel him today for not dragging the Confederates hard enough?
• “A new birth of freedom” and the big question: Can a nation “so conceived and so dedicated… long endure?”
• Bonus hot take: America is American democracy really as fragile as everyone keeps yelling, or is it tougher than we think? (We vote tougher.)

Short, punchy, and poundcake-approved – grab your coffee and give it a listen as we toast the speech that still hits 162 years later.

Four score and seven snacks ago… we hit record.

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Read the Full Short Speech.

https://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/lincoln-gettysburg-address-speech-text/