Contemporary Reactions

Goldwin Smith: "Not a sovereign in Europe, however trained from the cradle for state pomps, and however prompted by statesmen and courtiers, could have uttered himself more regally than did Lincoln at Gettysburg."

Horace Greeley: "I doubt that our national literature contains a finer gem than that little speech at the Gettysburg celebration, November 19, 1863… after the close of Mr. Everett’s classic but frigid oration."

Charles Sumner: "That speech, uttered at the field of Gettysburg… and now sanctified by the martyrdom of its author, is a monumental act. In the modesty of his nature he said ‘the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here; but it can never forget what they did here.’ He was mistaken. The world at once noted what he said, and will never cease to remember it. The battle itself was less important than the speech. Ideas are always more [important] than battles."

Emancipation Proclamation commemorative medallion issued for the centennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth. Jules Edouard Roiné, sculptor. Silver-plated, 1909. Susan H. Douglas Political Americana Collection, #2214. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.

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