Abraham Lincoln Quote T-Shirt | "For the People" | Gettysburg Address 1863 Shirt

They didn't ask Lincoln to give the main speech.

The main speaker that day was Edward Everett, the most famous orator in America. Former president of Harvard. Former Secretary of State. Former Senator. When they needed someone to speak at the dedication of the cemetery at Gettysburg on November 19, 1863, Everett was the obvious choice. He prepared for weeks. He spoke for two hours.

Then Lincoln stood up. He had been asked, almost as an afterthought, to offer "a few appropriate remarks." He spoke for two minutes.

Everett wrote to Lincoln the next day: "I wish that I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes."

Nobody remembers Everett's speech.

Lincoln stood on a field where more than 50,000 Americans had fallen just four months earlier. He could have talked about the battle. He could have talked about the dead. Instead he talked about the living, and what they owed to the ones who didn't make it home.

He said the work wasn't finished. That it was for us, the living, to be dedicated to the great task remaining before us. That these dead shall not have died in vain. That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.

And that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Theodore Roosevelt said it plainly: "The government is us; we are the government, you and I."

And it is up to all of us to ensure it serves the people.

All of us.

Forever.

Product Features:

• The flag graphic is distressed by design. It's meant to look like it's been through something. Because it has.
• 100% Airlume combed and ring-spun cotton (fiber content varies by color)
• Athletic Heather is 90% cotton, 10% polyester. Other heather colors are 52% cotton, 48% polyester
• Light fabric, 4.2 oz/yd² (142 g/m²)
• Retail fit
• Tear-away label
• Made in the USA with imported fabric

Care Instructions:

• Machine wash warm, inside out, with like colors
• Non-chlorine bleach when needed
• Tumble dry low
• Iron medium. Do not iron decoration
• Do not dry clean

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