Abraham Lincoln was tired. He had a headache. Some historians even think he was in the early stages of smallpox when he sat down to define the soul of the United States in just 272 words. Most people know it as the four score and seven years ago speech, a piece of oratory so ingrained in the American psyche that we've basically turned it into a cliché. But if you think it was just a flowery tribute to fallen soldiers, you’re missing the actual point of why he said what he said.
He didn't just go there to dedicate a cemetery.
Lincoln was there to save a failing experiment. Honestly, by November 1863, the North was exhausted. The Battle of Gettysburg had happened months prior, leaving a literal landscape of rotting horse carcasses and shallow graves that were being unearthed by heavy rain. It was gruesome. The smells were horrific. People were angry. And Lincoln had to explain why it was all worth it.
The Myth of the Back of an Envelope
You’ve probably heard the story that Lincoln scribbled the four score and seven years ago speech on the back of a tattered envelope while riding the train to Pennsylvania. It's a nice image. It makes him look like a spontaneous genius.
It's also totally fake.
Lincoln was a grinder. He was a meticulous editor who obsessed over every syllable. He actually wrote several drafts of the Gettysburg Address, including one on Executive Mansion stationery. He didn't just "wing it." He knew this was his chance to reframe the entire Civil War. Before this moment, the war was technically about "preserving the Union," which sounds a lot like a legal contract or a corporate merger. Lincoln wanted to turn it into a moral crusade.
He started with "Four score and seven years ago." Why? Because it sounds biblical. He wasn't just doing math (87 years). He was pointing directly back to 1776—to the Declaration of Independence—not the Constitution. This was a massive political move. The Constitution, at that time, still protected slavery. The Declaration said "all men are created equal." By choosing his starting point carefully, Lincoln was effectively rewriting the American mission statement on the fly.
Why the Main Speaker Was a Total Failure (Sorta)
Everyone forgets about Edward Everett. He was the actual "star" of the day. Everett was a legendary orator, the former Governor of Massachusetts, and a Harvard President. He spoke for two entire hours.
Two. Hours.
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He gave a massive, sweeping history of the battle, full of classical references and theatrical gestures. The crowd loved him at the time, but today, almost nobody can quote a single sentence he said. Why? Because he was performing. Lincoln was communicating.
When Lincoln stepped up, he spoke for barely two minutes. Some people in the back didn't even realize he had started before he was sitting back down. The photographers didn't even have time to set up their massive, clunky cameras to get a good shot of him speaking. That’s why the only photos we have of Lincoln at Gettysburg show him sitting down or lost in a crowd. He was fast. He was blunt. He used short, punchy words that hit like a hammer.
The "New Birth of Freedom" and the Reality of 1863
The middle of the four score and seven years ago speech is where the real work happens. Lincoln says, "We cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground."
Wait, what?
He’s literally there to dedicate a cemetery, and he says he can’t do it. It's a rhetorical pivot. He’s telling the audience that the dead have already done the work, and the only way to honor them isn't through a fancy ceremony or a stone monument. It's by winning the war.
This was a tough sell.
By 1863, the draft riots in New York had turned the streets into a war zone. People were being lynched. Homes were being burned. The North was deeply divided on whether the war should even be fought anymore. Lincoln used the Gettysburg Address to argue that if the North quit now, the dead died for nothing. He used the word "perish" at the end for a reason. He genuinely believed that if the United States failed, democracy might actually vanish from the face of the earth. In 1863, that wasn't hyperbole. Most of the world was still run by kings and emperors who were laughing at the American "experiment" as it tore itself apart.
The Five Copies
If you look for the "original" manuscript, you'll find five of them. They are all slightly different.
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- The Nicolay Copy: Often called the "first draft."
- The Hay Copy: Probably written shortly after the speech.
- The Everett Copy: Sent to the main speaker for a fundraiser.
- The Bancroft Copy: Written for a collection.
- The Bliss Copy: This is the one you see on the walls of the Lincoln Memorial. It's the only one he signed and dated.
This variation is why you might see different punctuation or word choices in different books. Lincoln was a perfectionist. He kept tweaking it even after the event was over.
The Brutal Reception
Kinda hard to believe now, but the four score and seven years ago speech wasn't an instant hit with everyone. The Chicago Times called it "silly, flat and dish-watery." They hated Lincoln. They thought his brevity was disrespectful to the dead.
The Harrisburg Patriot and Union was even meaner. They said, "We pass over the silly remarks of the President. For the credit of the nation we are willing that the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them and that they shall be no more repeated or thought of."
Talk about a bad take.
On the other hand, Edward Everett himself knew he’d been outclassed. He wrote to Lincoln the next day, saying, "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." He got it. He realized that Lincoln had condensed the entire meaning of democracy into a tiny package that people could actually remember.
Does it Still Matter?
Honestly, yeah.
The four score and seven years ago speech is the reason we view the United States as a single entity rather than a collection of states. Before the Civil War, people usually said "the United States are..." After the war, and after this speech, people started saying "the United States is..."
It changed the grammar of the country.
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It shifted the focus from a legalistic union to a moral one. It basically said that the "proposition" that all men are created equal is the actual glue holding us together. If we lose that, we lose everything.
How to Actually Use Lincoln’s Strategy Today
If you’re trying to communicate something big—whether it’s a business pitch, a graduation speech, or a difficult conversation—you can learn a lot from how Lincoln handled those two minutes in Pennsylvania.
Keep it short.
If you can't say it in 300 words, you don't know what you're trying to say. Lincoln followed a two-hour speech and stole the show because he was brief. People value their time. Respect it.
Focus on the "Why," not just the "What."
Everett talked about the "what"—the history, the movements of the troops, the dates. Lincoln talked about the "why"—the survival of freedom and the "new birth" of the nation. Don't get bogged down in the logistics. Tell people what it means.
Use "We," not "I."
Count the number of times Lincoln says "I" in the speech. (Spoiler: He doesn't). It’s all about "we," "us," and "the people." He made the audience the hero of the story, not himself. That's how you build buy-in.
Reference your foundations.
Lincoln didn't invent a new philosophy on the spot. He reached back to 1776. When you're trying to move people forward, remind them of where they came from and what they already believe in.
Next Steps for Deep History Fans
If you want to see the reality behind the words, start by reading the Bliss Copy of the speech out loud. It takes about two minutes. Notice the rhythm. Then, look up the photography of Alexander Gardner from the Gettysburg battlefield. The contrast between the beautiful language and the horrific photos of the "Harvest of Death" is the only way to truly understand the weight of what Lincoln was doing. You might also look into the work of historian Garry Wills, specifically his book Lincoln at Gettysburg, which breaks down the Greek oratorical structures Lincoln used. It’s a bit academic, but it proves that those 272 words were a calculated masterpiece of political theater.