Seven Score and Ten Years Ago

"On Nov. 19, 1863, Everett stepped forward and began to speak. He went on and on—for two hours and eight minutes. The crowd grew restless.
"Lincoln rose, adjusted his spectacles, and began: 'Four score and seven years ago.' The first two words rhyme, setting in motion a symphony of sounds. The biblical ring of his opening was rooted in lines from Psalm 90. Lincoln never mentioned the Bible, but the whole of his speech was suffused with both biblical content and cadence.
"He first placed the dedication of the battlefield in the larger context of American history. In appealing to 'our fathers,' Lincoln invoked a common heritage. The trajectory of that sentence underscored the American ideal that 'all men are created equal.' Lincoln at Gettysburg asserted that the meaning of the Civil War was about both liberty and union."

Ronald C. White in the Los Angeles Times marks the sesquicentennial of the Gettysburg Address.

Slate publishes an excerpt from The Gettysburg Address: A Graphic Adaptation by Jonathan Hennessey and Aaron McConnell.

And The Onion provides a word cloud.