From Nelson Mandela to Abraham Lincoln, these revered leaders' words remain poignant and powerful decades after they were first uttered.
You plausibly know very slight about the Battle of Gettysburg . Although it was likely the most decisive conflict in the flaming warfare America has ever fought , its commanders , maneuver , soundbox count , and the like have faded into account for nearly everyone that ’s not a Civil War buff .
Yet , even today , almost every American for sure bonk of the Gettysburg Address — the speech given by President Abraham Lincoln at the dedication of the soldier ’s cemetery at the battle site four month after the fact — and can probably even recite at least its first six words ( “ Four grievance and seven years ago … ” ) .
Such is the power of history ’s greatest speech , the inspiring , heartrending , excoriate addresses that transcend their historical mo and cling with all of us no matter how many decades or even centuries have gone by .

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Here are seven of the greatest speech in modernistic history :
Greatest Speeches: “I Am Prepared To Die,” Nelson Mandela
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One of the mostmemorable speechesin modern account comes from Nelson Mandela , the man who fight tirelessly against South African apartheid . His revolutionary study take to his unlawful arrest in 1962 on accusation of treason and inciting the public to strike against the political science .
Mandela was sentenced to sprightliness in prison and delivered this incredible three - hour speech in defending team of his aggressive activity against his government ’s anti-Semite policy during his trial run in Rivonia on April 20 , 1964 .
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“ I have treasure the paragon of a popular and free society in which all persons live together in concordance and with adequate opportunity . It is an ideal , which I hope to live for and to attain . But if needs be , it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die . ”