November 2, 1863---Edward Everett is asked to deliver the Gettysburg Address

NOVEMBER 2, 1863:          

President Abraham Lincoln is invited to attend the dedication ceremonies of the new National Military Cemetery at Gettysburg later in the month. Although Lincoln is expected to speak, Edward Everett, a famed orator of the day, and Lincoln’s Vice-Presidential opponent on the 1860 Constitutional Union Party ticket, is tapped as keynote speaker.