Cd'A Charter students discuss historic speech delivered 150 years ago

COEUR d'ALENE - On the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, high school students at the Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy arrived to school early to participate in an interactive online program sponsored by the National Park Service.

The school was one of six nationwide to be selected for an online panel discussion with park rangers at Gettysburg that would be seen by more than 90,000 other schools.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

Instead, while other instructors battled with a federal government website on which the program was scheduled to take place, Scott MacPhee channeled the Great Emancipator and began speaking to students.

MacPhee, who teaches European literature and linguistics at the school, gave students a brief overview of the battle of Gettysburg prior to discussing the series of events that led to Lincoln giving his famous address - including some of the common misconceptions about the speech.

One of the common myths regarding the Gettysburg Address is that the speaker before Lincoln, according to MacPhee, "put the audience to sleep" with a two-hour speech.

However, the speaker before Lincoln was a well-known orator named Edward Everett, and MacPhee said his speech was well received.

"I've read Everett's speech and it is a good read," MacPhee said, encouraging his students to read it as well. "He gave an overview of the three days of battle, detailing what certain companies and soldiers did."

MacPhee also went over Lincoln's 271-word speech after reciting it, discussing its impact and themes.

"It's my favorite speech," MacPhee said.

Even though the technical difficulties forced instructors to cancel the planned presentation, students still walked away with insight on the famous address.