Newspaper retracts 1863 editorial calling Gettysburg Address 'silly'

(MyFoxBoston.com) – A Pennsylvania newspaper has retracted an editorial its forebears wrote in 1863 that referred to the Gettysburg Address "silly remarks."

PennLive.com's editorial board said the Nov. 24, 1863 editorial printed in The Patriot and Onion newspaper was so "flawed," "tainted by hubris" and "lacking in the perspective history would bring" that it couldn't let it stand.

The editorial mainly focuses on then-Secretary of State Edward Everett's remarks that preceded President Abraham Lincoln's iconic speech. The sixth paragraph, however, dismisses President Lincoln's oratory as "silly remarks" and says "We are willing that the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them and that they shall be no more repeated or thought of."

The PennLive.com editorial board suggests their predecessors were "under the influence of partisanship, or of strong drink."

You can read the entire retraction and initial article here: http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2013/11/a_patriot-news_editorial_retraction_the_gettysburg_address.html#incart_flyout_opinion

Cox Media Group