Would President Abraham Lincoln have taken the train from Washington D.C. to Gettysburg Pennsylvania to give his speech- 150 years ago yesterday?
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As I recall, he did then and wrote much of the speech while on the train. Today, there is no passenger train service.
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Given the short distance between DC and Gettysburg, it's entirely possible he might have flown via helicopter. Going by road would be a total mess.
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Were he alive today he'd go by helicopter, and he wouldn't be writing his own speeches either. Most likely he'd use the same speech writer everyone uses, who starts ever second sentence with "Let me be very clear", or "Make no mistake".. with the word "clearly" thrown in 50 times (as if saying the word "clearly" in and of itself makes it clear). Clearly, if Lincoln were alive today he'd fly instead of take the train. But make no mistake (!), and let me be perfectly clear on this, that would clearly be a mistake.
tree68 Given the short distance between DC and Gettysburg, it's entirely possible he might have flown via helicopter. Going by road would be a total mess.
Igor Sikorsky might disagree with you.
Norm
Why? He invented the helicopter.
Ulrich Why? He invented the helicopter.
Before Lincoln was president?
schlimm As I recall, he did then and wrote much of the speech while on the train. Today, there is no passenger train service.
Norm48327 Ulrich Why? He invented the helicopter. Before Lincoln was president?
No, we're talking if Lincoln were alive today. Clearly helicopters weren't around in Lincoln's day.
Murphy Siding schlimm As I recall, he did then and wrote much of the speech while on the train. Today, there is no passenger train service. I wondered if there was much a through route back then between the 2 spots. As I recall, Lincoln had to take a round-a-bout route from Illinois to the White House when he was elected. Given the fact that there was the possibility of running into Confederate troops in unexpected places- like Gettysburg Pennsylvania, I bet having the President go there provided a lock of security headaches for the folks in charge of his safety. It seems to me, that more than a few people had crossed Abe off their Christmas card lists by then.
Lee and his Confederate Army beat a hasty retreat out of Pennsylvania and Maryland back to Virginia immediately after the Gettysburg battle in July 1863. Lincoln's 'Gettysburg Address' took place in November 1863.
While Lincoln could have taken either the PRR or B&O from Washington to Baltimore, he would have used what became the Western Maryland to get to Gettysburg.
While Maryland was populated with Southern sympathizers - it had been that way since the start of the War. As we know, Washington DC occupys the border area between Maryland and Virginia along the banks of the Patomac River. As was demonstrated by Lincoln's assisnation two years later, the security surrounding Lincoln was nothing like what we know of Presidential Security today. I believe (but could be mistaken) Lincoln signed the legislation creating the Secret Service the day that he got assisnated.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
"I believe (but could be mistaken) Lincoln signed the legislation creating the Secret Service the day that he got assisnated"
You are correct. I looked that up earlier today..
Amazing, astounding bit of trivia (which I never knew before) - thanks ! Not sure how valuable or important - but as the saying goes, "Timing is everything !". Just a little too late on that one . . .
- Paul North.
Presidential protection began in 1901 after the assassination of McKinley.
Kind of funny, considering the image that each of us had ingrained in our brains back in grade school of Abe Lincoln, to think about him in disguise.
Ulrich Were he alive today he'd go by helicopter, and he wouldn't be writing his own speeches either. Most likely he'd use the same speech writer everyone uses, who starts ever second sentence with "Let me be very clear", or "Make no mistake".. with the word "clearly" thrown in 50 times (as if saying the word "clearly" in and of itself makes it clear).
Were he alive today he'd go by helicopter, and he wouldn't be writing his own speeches either. Most likely he'd use the same speech writer everyone uses, who starts ever second sentence with "Let me be very clear", or "Make no mistake".. with the word "clearly" thrown in 50 times (as if saying the word "clearly" in and of itself makes it clear).
Naaaw, he'd just have done something like this.
One significant fact that has always fascinated me about the event - Lincoln wasn't the featured speaker. His appearance was more of a cameo.
Edward Everett was the main speaker that day - and he spoke for some two hours (13,607 words...).
Everett's words are long forgotten, except by students of the event.
I had to memorize Lincoln's address (and five other pieces, but that's another topic) in eighth grade American History, as I'm sure countless other schoolchildren have done.
Moral: be brief, and you are more likely to be remembered.
I wonder what the people thought when the President stood up? "Oh, no, how much longer?"
I am reminded of the time that I sat behind the minister at a baccalaureate service that was held on a football field. When he began to repeat himself for the third time, I was tempted to reach forward and pull him by his coat tail--I was getting cold that spring evening.
Johnny
People were used to long speeches in those days. They were one of the main forms of entertainment. Some of the Lincoln-Douglas debates went on for several hours. No TV, no cell phones, no I-pods.
The speech was not written on the train. Lincoln did the work in the White House and some early drafts are still in existence. He was also quite proficient with the language. Although autodidactic, (self-educated), his reading materials were Greystone's Law, Shakespeare and the King James Bible.
There are five versions or drafts of the speech, but only two (the Nicolay and Hay drafts) were written before or at the time of the speech. The other three were written out by Lincoln later, one the following February.
In an 1894 article that included a facsimile of the first copy, Lincoln's secretary John Nicolay, who had become the custodian of Lincoln's papers, wrote that Lincoln had brought to Gettysburg the first part of the speech written in ink on Executive Mansion stationery before the train trip Nov. 18, and that he had written the second page in pencil on lined paper before the dedication on November 19.
The Secret Service was originally formed to prevent counterfeits, and to stop anyone who was making counterfeits, which it continues to do today. The task of protecting the president was added later. I remember seeing somewhere that Lincoln took a train to Gettysburg, and I think he did work on the speech on the train. Security wasn't as big as a issue back then. 50 years ago from today,JFK was assassinated, presidents rode in convertibles. If Lincoln would travel to Gettysburg today, it would be by helicopter probably.
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