Editor’s note: Monday, Feb. 18, 2013, is Presidents’ Day in the United States.
Presidents’ Day was first established in 1885 to recognize George Washington’s birthday. Now the holiday honors all US presidents.
Among the presidents most widely commemorated on Presidents’ Day is Abraham Lincoln. According to many historians, he is considered the country’s greatest president, largely because of his leadership during the Civil War and for his role in abolishing slavery.
Lincoln was also known as an outstanding writer. He was said to have written his speeches out by hand and even read drafts aloud to some of his cabinet members.
However, it was Lincoln’s words rather than his strengths as a speaker that will live on. Perhaps his most famous oration (see definition below) is the Gettysburg Address, which included the line, “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
With the stroke of a pen, history was made!
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ORATION: A formal public speech.
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