ABRAHAM LINCOLN WROTE the Gettysburg Address on the back of an envelope.

George Washington wrote his Farewell Address inside a humorous retirement card he had received from Robert Morris.

Pericles hurriedly spelled out his Funeral Oration with Scrabble tiles.

William Jennings Bryan engraved his famous “Cross of Gold” speech on a nine-foot gilt cross, which was exhibited for years afterwards as a Barnum and Bailey sideshow.

Cicero scrawled “Quousque tandem abutere Catilina patientia nostra” in white paint on the side of an aqueduct. He was fined 15 sesterces for vandalism and ordered to perform 25 hours of community service.