What's so remarkable about this speech is how little fanfare it received. In the age of Twitter and 24-hour media cycles, it's easy to become oversaturated with information and "hot takes" on every speech or gaffe or tweet.

But Lincoln's words were relegated to the background. Famed orator Edward Everett and his two-hour deep dive into battle specifics and classical allusions were given top billing.

Fast-forward 15 decades, and pretty much no one can remember Everett's speech. Lincoln's, however, lives on.

The president's words speak for themselves. Reading them, one can sense the swell of pride that must have overtaken each listener. However, as Lincoln proved over and over in his career, he was a fantastic speaker. These words were meant to be heard, and hearing him at the site of so much carnage must have elicited an overwhelming wave of emotion.

It is said that the president did not think much of his speech since he heard only polite applause when he finished. But perhaps this was more of a stunned silence than a hostile crowd. In two short minutes, Lincoln was able to establish that they were in the midst of a terrible war, that many men had given their lives for a cause stretching back generations, and that now it was the job of every American to work toward ending this conflict in the name of freedom.

Yeah. We can't even do a good job brushing our teeth in two minutes. That Honest Abe was an impressive guy.

How It Breaks Down

Section 1: Recap-ture the Momentum

This section is classic recap. President Lincoln delivered the finest opener in history before launching into an explanation of what was going on for anyone living under a rock: we're at war, there was a great and terrible battle here, and now we're gonna honor it.

Section 2: Hold on a Second

In the middle section, Lincoln focused on the sacrifices that the soldiers at Gettysburg made by giving their lives. Even as president of the United States, his thanks meant little; God and history will be the real judges.

Section 3: Now It's Our Turn

Like every great politician, Lincoln spent the last lines of the speech asking the American people for something. Not for votes or more tax dollars, but for the courage, grit, and determination to win.

Because if the Union should lose, that whole "land of the free" thing would go with it.