A recent PBS documentary on Queen Victoria has an interesting take on how an effective speaker (Gladstone) could enthrall a large, open air crowd. The basic thesis is most people fed off the reaction of those in front who could hear fairly well, and from snippets of the speech passed back through the crowd. There must have been some interesting communal editing going on as the memes back, with a lot of information loss. "Blessed are the cheese makers.."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/allan-abramson/canceled-health-insurance_b_4268106.html

That's a great plan!!!

If money grew on trees or we moved to a non-currency based system invoked by the United Federation Of Planets in the year 2369...

But alas, it doesn't and we haven't...

Michale

Here's a plan worth exploring:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/allan-abramson/canceled-health-insurance_b_4268106.html

:-)

-CW

Yeah, I did skip over the whole "multi-version" thing. The one I copied, I believe, had the benefit of being the only extant copy signed by Lincoln himself, which I figured was good enough.

But you're right, a whole lot of "extend and revise" went on for that one speech. There are now two photos of the event, and Lincoln isn't up on some grand podium or something, he's just in the middle of a big crowd of people, so it's interesting that you mention a fact most of us never consider: what was life like before amplification? Most of the audience never would have heard any of the great speeches... too far away...

-CW

My proof reading skill is notoriously weak, so I'll just assume your text is from the Bliss version of the Gettysburg Address, the "received version" most students memorize.

It's worth noting there is some uncertainty about what Lincoln actually said during his address. Plus rather more uncertainty about how it was received by the audience within, or close to earshot. Hit or miss at the premier? Not entirely clear.

There are 5 printed versions of the speech that were acknowledged by Lincoln in his lifetime. One of these versions is likely the notes Lincoln held during his speech, but if so, there is no guarantee he recited these words verbatim. There are also wire service texts reconstructed from memory and/or shorthand notes. All these first hand vary a bit although the general thrust of the piece is pretty clear.

Still, this being American History, there is controversy, notably about phrase "under God," which isn't in the earliest drafts (copied soonest after the event), but numerous first hand accounts report Lincoln included them.

Constitution Daily had an interesting post on this about a year ago, it's still up:

http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2012/11/read-six-different-versions-of-the-gettysburg-address/

Does anyone here support the Republican plan to allow people to keep their health plans if they like them??

Michale

Gridlock? Oh sure. It's always been around.

It's the nature of the beast..

I am only saying that, in my lifetime, the beast has never been this wild, this un-tamed...

It's pretty bad when not even another 9/11 would bring this country together..

Michale

Thanks for the kind words. I only picked 150 years because it is the Civil War's sesquicentennial, so there will be anniversaries for the next few years. Most everyone else will be focused on Kennedy's assassination for the next few weeks, so I thought I'd reach even further back.

As for gridlock, though, I can point to a dandy example in just about any decade you care to name. Try me. Recent or ancient, gridlock's always been around.

-CW

In anticipation of the howls of "It's all the Republicans fault!!!" let me just say that Yes.. Republicans do share a portion of the blame..

But it wasn't Republicans who made the blanket unequivocal promise.

It was Obama...

Michale

However, while it's true that obviously things were more partisan back then, the fact that you have to go back 150 years, to a time when there was open warfare is still a pretty hefty indictment of the partisanship that exists today..

ESPECIALLY in light of the fact that millions of Americans (myself included) believed Obama when he said that he would end such partisanship and bring a new era of cooperation to DC...

And yet... Here we are...

Michale