Gettysburg Address in Today's Vernacular

The Gettysburg Address, as given by President Abraham Lincoln, consisted of only 278 words.  It its day, the press vilified Lincoln for making such a short speech about the 7,500 war dead at the Battle of Gettysburg where Lincoln dedicated the National Cemetery there.  However, with the passage of time, these 278 words have become one of the greatest speeches ever given in American history.  Following is the 278 words of the great, memorable Gettysburg Address:

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.

Now, if this famous speech was written today with our rampant political correctness (PC), legalese gobbledygook, 2,700-page Obamacare bill type writing, and double-speak, it would probably read like the following:

Some 87 years (plus or minus 1 year) ago, the early settlers brought to North America a neo-government, conceptualized in freedom, and focused on the assertion that all people are somewhat created equitable.

We are now stalemated in a humongous asymmetrical contingency operations, empirically exercising whether that government, or any government so conceptualized, can maintain its existence. We are assembled on a great gridiron of that contingency operations. We have come to hallow a few acres of that gridiron, as a graveyard for those who died here and that that government might continue on.  It is generally appropriate and politically correct that we do this.

However, in a humongous sense, we cannot hallow, we cannot purify, we cannot set aside this piece of real estate. The fearless warriors, both alive and expired, who hassled here, have purified it, far beyond our capability for summation or subtraction. The world community will probably not recognize, nor remember for very long what was said here today; however, it can never purge from memory what they accomplished here. Hence, it is for us, the live people, rather, to be focused to the yet-to-be-done work, which they who battled and struggled here have hitherto so nobly set forth. Rather, it is for us here to be focused on the gargantuan challenge existing in front of us—that from these distinguished expired soldiers, we take expanded dedication to that objective for which they gave the ultimate measure of dedication—that we here to the greatest extent possible conclude that these dead soldiers shall not have been slaughtered in vain—that this government, under the Great Force above, shall have a neo-birth of liberty—and that nation of the populace, by the populace, for the populace, shall not be liquidated from the world.

Hence, what was a great speech given in Lincoln’s day would just be a bunch of Obama rhetoric in today’s vernacular about our warfighters in Afghanistan and Iraq. Yet, Lincoln’s original Gettysburg Address is still one of  the greatest speeches given in United States history.  It is not the length of the speech that counts.  It is what is said and how it is said that really counts.

###