150 years later, a look back at Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

On the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, we speak with Civil War historian Peter Carmichael about the historic speech and its significance today.

From the Associated Press:

The Gettysburg Address is impossibly profound; intimidatingly brief, under 300 words; and unusual among great American speeches, in part because the occasion did not call for a great American speech. Lincoln was not giving an inaugural address, a commencement speech or remarks in the immediate aftermath of a shocking national tragedy, such as the bombing of Pearl Harbor or the Sept. 11 attacks.

"No one was looking for him to make history," says the Pulitzer Prize-winning Civil War historian James McPherson, who added that the event was planned by Pennsylvania officials, not by the Lincoln administration.

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