Eloquence of Brevity

“The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.” — Thomas Jefferson

I’ve long been captivated by President Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, and recently, even more so. The stressors of our times outline the parallels of ‘now’ and ‘then’ in obvious similarities bringing us back often to the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and thus for me, to the Gettysburg Address. In fact, given a choice of inspirational writing, I’d choose the Address over the Declaration every time. In fact, I made copies of it years ago to keep near my writing desks in various locations. I know I’ve written before on this blog about the Address, but that was motivated by a recent ‘State of the Union’ speech running two hours and signifying nothing. But I’m back to Mr. Lincoln again in response to the growing criticism I hear of the values of our founding fathers.

Why do I feel the attachment to the Gettysburg Address so profoundly? Simple. Yes, initially it probably has roots in the fact that one branch of my family tree is deeply rooted in the Civil War and that has set up some connection in my DNA that lives with me still. However, I’ve often thought it’s more the captivating story of how the Address was written holding me hostage now. For the unaware, the marvel of Lincoln’s accomplishment lies in the fact that it was only two hundred words delivered in two minutes. He followed the most famous orator of the day, a former politician and President of Harvard College, Edward Everett, who gave a twenty-thousand word speech and spoke for two hours! Everett admitted in a letter to Lincoln after the ceremony dedicating Gettysburg as a national cemetery that Lincoln had done in two-hundred words what Everett couldn’t do in twenty-thousand. That has always seemed to me a profound lesson for a writer to learn, which is why I hold onto it so fast.

And yet, as an example of exemplary writing, the Address has a few other lessons for us, too. The Declaration has a number of overly ambitious statements of ‘truth’ that people find inspiring but somewhat out of reach today. The endowments and inalienable rights ‘owed’ to all men many argue have long been beyond some Americans, and that puts the fulfillment of the Declaration too far above us, numerous critics have said. So why does the Gettysburg Address deliver not only the appeal of something sounding beautiful, but meaningfully honest and right on the mark?

Those few opening lines beginning with “Four score and seven years ago,” remind me of the great first pages of our literary treasures such as Moby Dick or Great Expectations. What did Lincoln accomplish in those opening lines? He described America as a continent, giving the listener a sense of something vast and uniquely isolated, completely surrounded by water. He then describes the continent and its American experiment as a new nation. He writes that this new nation was ‘conceived in liberty’, reminding his listeners of the reason for them all being there, and then moves on to the issue of slavery without actually mentioning it, by reminding everyone that the founders were “dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” How carefully crafted that phrase is! It’s not a fact or truth but an ideal that we’re grasping for; a statement, offer, or idea put forward for consideration. There can be no penalties for not having fully realized those self-evident truths. We are flawed creatures but we’re still doing our best. Our aspirations are great, but as long as we understand that equality among men is a proposition, we have no need to punish ourselves for falling short.

There is so much more in that brief address to learn from, but I’m sure everyone takes something different away from it. It had a profound effect on Americans right from the start, as Lincoln states later that history will forget what he said but never forget what those brave soldiers did at Gettysburg. One is fully aware of his humility, yet we note that his two hundred words have resonated through the history of our nation in a way nothing else ever has. Brevity and carefully chosen words will always win the day.