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Quinn attends midnight reading of Gettysburg Address

Dozens of people, including the governor, were at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum late into the night to see a handwritten copy of the Gettysburg Address and hear a reading of the famous speech.

The (Springfield) State Journal-Register reports more than 100 people lined up late Monday. The handwritten speech at the Springfield museum is one of only five copies of the 272-word oration that was penned by Lincoln himself.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn attended Tuesday’s midnight reading marking the 150th anniversary of the speech Lincoln gave in Pennsylvania.

It’s one of the nation’s best-known speeches.

Springfield resident John Morris was among those who waited to see the document. He says it’s one of the “most concise declarations of equality and what humans strive for.”

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