On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln went to Gettysburg to speak at the National Soldiers Cemetery . The Civil War was still going on. There was much criticism   of President Lincoln at the time. He had been invited to speak at Gettysburg only out of politeness. The other speaker was to be Edward Everett, a famous statesman   and speaker of the day. Everett was a handsome man and very popular everywhere. It is said that Lincoln prepared his speech on the train while going to Gettysburg. Later that night, alone in his hotel room and tired out, he again worked briefly on the speech. The next day Everett spoke first. His speech lasted an hour and 57 minutes and it was a perfect example of the day. Then Lincoln rose. The crowd of 15,000 people at first paid little attention to him. He spoke for only nine minutes. At the end there was little applause . Lincoln turned to a friend and said, "I have failed again." Some newspapers at first criticized   the speech. But little by little, as people read the speech, they began to like its simplicity and its deep meaning. It was a speech which only Abraham Lincoln could have made. Now everyone thinks of it as one of the greatest speeches ever given in American history. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln was   _   in Gettysburg.
warmly welcomed unpopular greatly praised very polite