Just a Few Words, Mr. Lincoln

Speaking before some 15-20,000 people on November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln told his audience that "the world would little note, nor long remember, what we say here." Today, Lincoln's Gettysburg address--a mere 10 sentences comprising 271 words--delivered in the aftermath of one of the Civil War's bloodiest battles, is one of the most famous speeches in U.S. history. Based on the 1993 book by Jean Fritz (illustrated by Charles Robinson), this iconographic adaptation deftly mixes the political and the personal to give younger viewers a rudimentary introduction to the "two big jobs" (freeing the slaves and winning the war, while--hopefully--maintaining the Union) that weighed on Lincoln's mind when he wasn't helping out individual visitors to the White House, or playing with his 10-year-old son Tad. Although Lincoln was not the first speaker at Gettysburg, his predecessor on the podium--a Mr. Everett--would later acknowledge that Lincoln said more in two minutes than he had in two hours. The video concludes with a full rendition of Lincoln's speech. Recommended. Aud: E, I, P. (R. Pitman)