6 lessons for leaders embodied in the Gettysburg Address
Peter DeMarco
Executive & Leadership Coach, Organizational Consultant & Ethics Educator
On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the most frequently-cited speeches in American history at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery on the battlefield at Gettysburg. The keynote speaker, Edward Everett, took nearly two months to compose his two-hour address. By contrast, President Lincoln was still revising his comments the evening prior. An austere setting enveloped the event. The violent engagement had occurred just over four months prior and “the cleanup of the aftermath was almost as horrific as the battle itself.”
Three years of Civil War had exhausted the people. The Emancipation Proclamation, issued on January 1, 1863, fell on skeptical minds. For many abolitionists, Lincoln hadn’t gone far enough. For Union slave-holding states, Lincoln had gone too far. Critics attacked him as “baboon” and a “gorilla,” and small-minded politicians with big ambitions were preparing to take on the President in the 1864 election.
Yet, on that day in November, the President could see beyond the terrible conflicts in his midst to craft the message followers then and now would remember. Below are six lessons you can learn from Lincoln’s example embodied in his Gettysburg Address: