Who was the audience of the Gettysburg Address?

It's for all of us. We are all there, reverently seated. It is forever.

Since the speech was given at the event of the dedication of a national cemetary for the dead at Gettysburg, several people would have been invited from many areas.

Approximately 15,000 people are estimated to have attended the ceremony, including the sitting governors of six of the 24 Union states: Andrew Gregg Curtin of Pennsylvania, Augustus Bradford of Maryland, Oliver P. Morton of Indiana, Horatio Seymour of New York, Joel Parker of New Jersey, and David Tod of Ohio.

Canadian politician William McDougall attended as Lincoln's guest.

The precise location of the program within the grounds of the cemetery is disputed.

Reinterment of the bodies buried from field graves into the cemetery, which had begun within months of the battle, was less than half complete on the day of the ceremony.

a few locals, some out of towners... and hookers who came in to work the convention.

There are several pan shots of Lincoln and surrounds. Im sure they can reconstruct the real location from the photos.

I thought there were very few photographs taken at the event. If, in fact, there are several wide shots, I wonder why they haven't yet pinpointed the exact location.

Lifted this from the Library of Congress:


Even though it is a drawing rather than a photograph, it has a perspective that shows the elevated area against the wall of the cemetery and the waterfeature beyond it. A little search on Google Earth or the Gettysburg Foundation site www.gettysburgfoundation.org should locate the approximate site.

In actuality Lincoln was not at the front of the stage declaiming furiously - that honour went to Edward Everett who gave a two-hour speech! It was as fabulously dull as Lincoln's was concise and brilliant.

This is the image of Lincoln on the day. It took a while to set up and expose an image in those days. He has actually just given the speech, it only took a little over two minutes and had just sat down again. The photographer missed the money shot.

Of all the things about the 'Address' it is the brevity that is the most striking. It says much about the man - a long-winded pompous speech would have been such an ego boost as the thronged masses cheered. That would be a conceit (and I would compare this with a recent 'war-time President') and it is probably the most sincere message anyone has ever delivered in wartime.

I wonder how many could hear him.

That's the first thing to come to my mind when I saw that illustration. I'm sure politicians of the era had strong voices, but still. . . .

Blessed Are the Cheesemakers...

Erm, well yes, I suppose so.

not a Monty Python scholar eh/

Yeah, well, you know lotsa stuff I don't.

One of my favorite scenes is when a group is asked by a newcomer "Is this the People's Front of Judea?" And Cleese spits out "no, we're not the People's Front of Judea, We are the Judean People's Front".

That's my best recall without running down the quote......Python was so gloriously goofy.

Yeah, but you know that some of those organizations can have widely different goals and means based on just such titles.

I know, thats what struck me funny. It's so irreverent, reminds me of my time in parochial schools.

you realize that weve quietly and expertly hijacked yet another thread.

Oops