Quick note: Big Optimism is getting a new home.

I'm rolling it into my other newsletter, Understandably. So Big Optimism will become a regular Monday feature.

• If you're already subscribed to Understandably, you're all set—you'll keep getting these optimistic history essays every Monday, right alongside everything else.
• If you're not subscribed to Understandably (or not sure), click the link below and I'll add you.

(And yes, the Big Optimism book is still coming—more on that soon.)

Honestly, I think this is simpler and makes more sense than some of the other plans I've floated here. I'm very optimistic that you'll like what we're building over there!

November 17, 2025

- President Abraham Lincoln

Gettysburg

Even if you last studied American history long ago (or never did), you're likely aware of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Over three days in early July 1863, more than 45,000 men were killed, wounded, captured, or went missing in what became the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. Bodies littered the Pennsylvania fields for weeks afterward.

The battle marked a turning point. General Robert E. Lee's defeat ended the last Confederate invasion of Northern territory. But the cost was staggering.

Four and a half months later, on November 19, 1863—162 years ago this week—President Lincoln traveled to Gettysburg to help dedicate a cemetery for the Union dead.

He delivered the most famous speech in American history. It took two minutes.

Pennsylvania's governor had commissioned attorney David Wills to create a proper burial ground for the 7,500 Union soldiers who died. Wills invited Edward Everett, the most famous orator in America, to speak at the dedication.

Then, almost as an afterthought, on November 2—just 17 days before the ceremony—he sent Lincoln a letter asking if the president might also offer "a few appropriate remarks."

Lincoln started drafting in Washington on Executive Mansion stationery. The morning of the event, staying at Wills's house, he finished the second page in pencil on lined paper.

Somewhere around 15,000 people gathered that afternoon. Everett spoke first—a two-hour oration covering ancient Greece, European military history, and an exhaustive analysis of the battle. The crowd grew restless.

Then Lincoln stood and spoke these 272 words:

The crowd interrupted Lincoln five times with cheers, according to a New York Times article at the time, and when he finished, there was "long continued applause. Everett wrote to Lincoln the next day: "I should be glad if 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."

The speech was short enough to memorize, profound enough to matter.

Lincoln had spent years arguing the war was about preserving the Union. At Gettysburg, he reframed it as something even bigger: a test of whether a nation dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal could survive.

Over time, the address became embedded in American memory. It's carved into the Lincoln Memorial, and generations of schoolchildren memorized it. His two-minute oration became the language Americans use to explain what the country is supposed to mean.

Sometimes the most powerful ideas don't need elaborate presentation. They just need to be true, and said plainly, at the right moment.

7 other things to know this week ...

• Sunday, November 16: "Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed." — From the preamble to UNESCO's Constitution, written by Archibald MacLeish. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization was founded on this day in 1945, signed by 37 countries in London.
• Monday, November 17: "I confess that my scheme is still a mere dream, and I do not shut my eyes to the fact that so long as I alone believe it to be possible, it is virtually impossible." — Ferdinand de Lesseps, on his plan to dig the Suez Canal, which opened on this day in 1869 after ten years of work.THIS WAS ACTUALLY NOVMEBER 17!!!
• Tuesday, November 18: "When people laugh at Mickey Mouse, it's because he's so human; and that is the secret of his popularity." — Walt Disney, on the character who debuted in "Steamboat Willie" on this day in 1928.
• Wednesday, November 19: "Our top design objective was for Kindle to disappear in your hands—to get out of the way—so you can enjoy your reading." — Jeff Bezos, on the first Kindle e-reader, which launched on this day in 2007 and sold out in five and a half hours.
• Thursday, November 20: "It is unique software designed for the serious PC user." — Bill Gates, on Windows 1.0, which was released on this day in 1985, launching the operating system that would come to dominate personal computing.​
• Friday, November 21: "We can now sail in the element of the birds." — Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, after making the first untethered hot air balloon flight with the Marquis d'Arlandes over Paris on this day in 1783, traveling five and a half miles in 25 minutes.
• Saturday, November 22: "Computers alone did not create Toy Story. A group of very talented people did." — John Lasseter, accepting his Special Achievement Oscar for the first fully computer-animated feature film, which was released on this day in 1995.