"There were as many people wandering around the fields...as stood around the stand listening to Everett's eloquent periods." By the time Lincoln rose to speak, more than two hours later, they would have been even more inattentive.
Lincoln's speech did not impress Everett, Seward and Chief of Protocol Ward Lamon as one of his great speeches. Even Lincoln was disappointed.
However Presidential Aide John Hay and John Nicolay, Private Secretary to Lincoln, said the speech was eloquent , "linking the deeds of the present to the thoughts of the future." They insisted that "the best critics have awarded it unquestioned rank as one of the world's masterpieces in rhetorical art." Edward Everett even praised it in a note that he sent to the President.
Democratic newspapers as would be the case today compared the dedication ceremonies to a "stage play." "On the present occasion Lincoln acted a Clown." One editorial argued that Lincoln was "less refined than a savage."
Republican newspapers had nothing but praise for Lincoln and his speech. "a perfect gem; deep in feeling, compact in thought and expression." Some even said that it was a better speech than Than Edward Everett's whose was smooth and cold. The few words from the President were from the heart.
Like American statesman Daniel Webster and Henry Clay, Lincoln regarded the Declaration of Independence of 1776 rather than the Constitution of 1787 as the foundation of American beliefs.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1512410
Sources: Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
Four Score and More
Barbara Silberdick Feinberg
Twenty-First Century Books
Brookfield, Connecticut
http://www.millbrookpress.com/
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