Gettysburg Address

:*To read the Gettysburg Address, see Gettysburg Address at Wikisource*
 of Abraham Lincoln above the words of the Gettysburg address]]
The **Gettysburg Address** is a speech by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. It was delivered on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863. This speech was made during the American Civil War, at the  of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  This was four-and-a-half months after the Union Army had a victory over the Confederate States Army at the Battle of Gettysburg.

The address is one of the greatest speeches in the history of the United States. Lincoln spoke of how humans were equal as it has been said in the Declaration of Independence. He also said the Civil War was a fight not simply for the Union, but "a new birth of freedom" that would make everyone truly equal in one united nation.

The speech famously begins with "Four score and seven years ago", referring to the American Revolution in 1776. "Score" in this case is an old word meaning "twenty." Lincoln used the ceremony at Gettysburg to encourage the people to help America's democracy, so that the "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth".

The speech is very important in the popular culture of the United States. However, people are not sure about the exact words of the speech. The five known  of the Gettysburg Address are different from one another in some details. They are also different from the words of the Gettysburg Address that have been printed in modern newspapers.

## Background 
s dead at Gettysburg, photographed by Timothy H. O'Sullivan, July 5–6, 1863]]
About 172,000 American soldiers fought in the Battle of Gettysburg from July 1–3, 1863. The Battle of Gettysburg was an important influence on the American Civil War and on the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, The battlefield had more than 7,500 bodies of dead soldiers and 5,000 horses. Sarah Broadhead, a wife and mother living in the town, feared that they would "be visited with pestilence". Eliza Farnham, a nurse, called the place "one vast hospital".

.]]
At first, Wills wanted to dedicate this new cemetery on Wednesday, October 23. He asked Edward Everett to be the main speaker. Everett was a very famous orator at that time. He had also served as Secretary of State, U.S. Senator, U.S. Representative, Governor of Massachusetts, president of Harvard University, and Vice Presidential .

Wills and the event committee then asked President Lincoln to join in the ceremony. Wills' letter said, "It is the desire , as Chief Executive of the nation, formally (officially) set apart these  a few appropriate (proper) remarks". Lincoln was officially asked to join only 17 days before the ceremony, while Everett had received his invitation 40 days earlier. "Although there is some evidence Lincoln expected Wills's letter, its late date makes the author (writer) appear  days was extraordinarily (remarkably) short notice for presidential participation even by nineteenth-century standards".  Also, Wills's letter "made it equally clear to the president that he would have only a small part in the ceremonies". There is a popular story that Lincoln completed his address on the train on the back of an envelope, but it is not true. There are several early copies on Executive Mansion paper, and reports of Lincoln finishing his speech while he was a guest of David Wills at Gettysburg. On the morning of November 19 at 9:30&nbsp;a.m., Lincoln, riding a brown horse, joined the townspeople, and widows marching out to the grounds to be dedicated.

About 15,000 people went to the ceremony. This included the governors of six of the 24 Union states. They were Andrew Gregg Curtin of Pennsylvania, Augustus Bradford of Maryland, Oliver P. Morton of Indiana, Horatio Seymour of New York, Joel Parker of New Jersey, and David Tod of Ohio. Canadian politician William McDougall came as Lincoln's guest. Historians do not agree about the exact place where the dedication ceremony was held inside the cemetery. Moving all the bodies to the graves in the cemetery was less than half complete on the day of the ceremony.

## Political importance 
By August 1863, tens of thousands of people had been killed or injured because of Civil War battles.  This made people in the North begin to dislike Lincoln and the war. Lincoln's 1863  were not popular, and people became angriest with them around the time of the New York Draft Riots. This was just ten days after the Battle of Gettysburg. In September 1863, Pennsylvania's Governor Curtin told Lincoln that people were turning against the war effort:

If the election were to  now, the result would be extremely doubtful (not sure), and although most of our discreet friends are sanguine of the result, my impression is, the chances would be against us. The draft is very odious  in the State... the Democratic leaders have succeeded in exciting  and passion, and have infused their poison into the minds of the people to a very large extent, and the changes are against us.

In the summer of 1864, Lincoln was worried that the people's bad feelings would make him lose the Presidential election.  In the fall of 1863, he grew very concerned about keeping up the Union's spirits toward the war effort. That was the greatest purpose of Lincoln's Address at Gettysburg.

It ended two hours later with:

: "But they, I am sure, will join us in saying, as we bid  to the dust of these martyr-heroes,  the glorious annals of our common country, there will be no brighter page than that which relates the Battles of Gettysburg".

## Text of Gettysburg Address 
After Everett finished his speech, Lincoln spoke for two or three minutes. Lincoln's "few  remarks" Among these, the Bliss version, written some time after the speech for a friend, is seen by lots of people as the most reliable text. Its text is different, however, from the written versions prepared by Lincoln before and after his speech. It is the only version Lincoln put his signature on. It is also the last he is known to have written. also note this). Pericles' speech begins with remembering honored people: "I shall begin with our : it is both just and proper that they should have the honour of the first mention on an occasion like the present". This is very much like the Gettysburg Address's famous beginning. In the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln had begun by speaking of how "our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation". He then praises their State's firm democracy: "If we look to the laws, they  equal justice to all". He honors the dead's sacrifice: "Thus choosing to die resisting, rather than to live submitting, they  only from dishonour, but met danger face to face". He also warmly encourages the living to continue to fight for true democracy: "You, their survivors, must determine to have as  a resolution in the field, though you may pray that it may have a happier ".

But writer Adam Gopnik felt differently. In *The New Yorker*, he said that Everett's Oration was openly neoclassical. For example, Everett spoke directly about Marathon and Pericles. But he said that "Lincoln’s rhetoric is, instead,  Biblical". He added that it is hard to find any obviously classical references in all of his speeches. Gopnik felt that "Lincoln had mastered the sound of the King James Bible so completely that he could recast (make again)  issues of constitutional law in Biblical terms (words from the Bible), making the proposition (suggestion) that Texas and New Hampshire should be forever bound by a single post office sound like something right out of Genesis". it is suggested that the writings of William Herndon, Lincoln's law partner, much influenced Lincoln. William Herndon wrote in *Abraham Lincoln: The True Story of A Great Life* that he had brought some of the sermons of abolitionist minister Theodore Parker to Lincoln, who had been moved by them.

Craig R. Smith, In "Criticism of Political Rhetoric and Disciplinary Integrity", suggested that the Gettysburg Address was influenced by the speech of Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster. In his "Second Reply to Hayne", Webster had famously cried out, " and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable"! In this 1830 speech, Webster had also described the Federal Government as "made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people". This expression was very similar to Lincoln's "government of the people, by the people, for the people."  Webster also said, "This  the independent offspring of the popular will. It is not the creature of State  the whole truth must be told, the people brought it into existence, established it, and have hitherto (until now) supported it, for the very purpose, amongst others, of  certain salutary restraints on State sovereignties". Others, such as Allen C. Guelzo, suggested that Lincoln's expression "four score and seven" was about the King James Version of the Bible's . There, man's life is described as "threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years".

## Five manuscripts 
Each of the five manuscript copies of the Gettysburg Address are named for the person who received it from Lincoln. Lincoln gave a copy to each of his private secretaries, John Nicolay and John Hay. Both were written around the time of his November 19 address. The other three copies of the address (the Everett, Bancroft, and Bliss copies) were written a long time after November 19. The Bliss copy has become the most widely accepted text of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.

There has been some  about the two earliest drafts of the Address. Lincoln's son, Robert Todd Lincoln, made Nicolay and Hay the legal guardians of Lincoln's papers in 1874.

### Nicolay Copy 
The Nicolay Copy is often called the "first draft". This is because it is thought to be the earliest copy that exists. Scholars are not sure if the Nicolay Copy was actually the copy Lincoln read from at Gettysburg on November 19. In an 1894 article, Nicolay wrote that Lincoln had brought to Gettysburg the first part of the speech written in ink. Nicolay also said that Lincoln had written the second page in pencil on lined paper before November 19. But some of the words and expressions in the Nicolay Copy do not match modern  of Lincoln's speech. Because of this, some people believe that the text used at Gettysburg has been lost.  The words "under God", for example, are missing in this copy from the phrase "that this nation (under God) shall have a new birth of freedom..." If the Nicolay draft was the copy Lincoln read from, either the modern transcriptions are not correct, or Lincoln spoke differently from his written text several times. John Nicolay kept this copy of the Gettysburg Address until he died in 1901. When he died, it was passed on to his friend John Hay.

### Hay Copy 
In 1906, it was first announced that the Hay Copy had been discovered. It had been found among the papers of John Hay when people were searching for the " manuscript" of the Address. The "Hay Copy" was probably made on the morning of the delivery of the Address. It could also have been made shortly after Lincoln came back to Washington. The people who believe it was completed on the morning of his address note that it has some expressions that are not in the first draft but are in the reports of the address and in later copies by Lincoln. It is likely, they say, that Lincoln used this copy when he delivered the address. Lincoln later gave this copy to his other secretary, John Hay. Hay's descendants gave it and the Nicolay Copy to the Library of Congress in 1916.

### Everett Copy 
The Everett Copy is also known as the "Everett-Keyes Copy". It was sent by President Lincoln to Edward Everett in early 1864. Everett, who was collecting the speeches at the Gettysburg dedication into one book to sell for hurt soldiers at New York's Sanitary Commission Fair, had asked for it. The Illinois State Historical Library in Springfield, Illinois has it on display. who wrote *History of the United States*, had asked him to write it for him. Bancroft wanted to put this copy in ''Autograph Leaves of Our Country's Authors'' and sell it at a Soldiers' and Sailors' Sanitary Fair in Baltimore. But Lincoln wrote on both sides of the paper, so he could not use it for this purpose. This copy was kept by the Bancroft family for many years. Then, it was sold to different dealers and bought by Nicholas and Marguerite Lilly Notes. They  it to Cornell in 1949. It is now kept by the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections in the Carl A. Kroch Library at Cornell University.

### Bliss Copy 
When Lincoln found that his fourth written copy could not be used, he wrote a fifth copy. The Bliss Copy was named for Colonel Alexander Bliss, Bancroft's stepson. It is not known if Lincoln made any more copies. Lincoln wrote this copy with much care. He gave it a title—"Address delivered at the dedication of the cemetery at Gettysburg"—and signed and dated this copy. The Castro government claimed Cintas' properties after it became powerful in 1959. But Cintas, who died in 1957, had willed the Gettysburg Address to the American people, if it would be kept at the White House. It was moved there in 1959, and is still there today.

## Contemporary sources and reaction 
'' article from November 20, 1863, reports that Lincoln's speech was  five times by applause and was followed by "long continued applause". Historian Shelby Foote said that the applause, which came after a long time, was "barely polite". But the governor of Pennsylvania, Curtin, said, "He pronounced (said) that speech in a voice that all the multitude (people) heard. The crowd was hushed into silence because the President stood before  was so Impressive! It was the common remark of everybody. Such a speech, as they said it was!" Lincoln replied that he was glad the speech was not a "total complete failure".

### Audio memories 
William R. Rathvon is the only known eyewitness of the Gettysburg Address to have left an  recording of what he remembered. One year before he died in 1939, Rathvon's remarks were recorded on February 12, 1938. It included his reading the address itself. The title of the record was "I Heard Lincoln That Day - William R. Rathvon, TR Productions". The National Public Radio (NPR) discovered a copy during a "Quest for Sound" project in 1999. NPR allows people to hear the record around Lincoln's birthday.

### Photographs 
The only known and  photograph of Lincoln at Gettysburg was taken by David Bachrach. It was identified in the Mathew Brady collection of photographic plates in 1952. Lincoln's speech was short, but he and others sat for hours during the rest of the program. Because Everett's speech was very long, and because it took a long time for 19th century photographers to prepare for taking a picture, it is likely that photographers were not prepared for how short Lincoln's speech was. In 2006, John Richter identified two more photographs in the Library of Congress collection.

### "Under God" 
The Nicolay and Hay copies do not have the words "under God", but they appear in the three later copies (Everett, Bancroft, and Bliss). So, some skeptics suggest that Lincoln did not say "under God" at Gettysburg. Yet at least three reporters telegraphed the words of the Gettysburg Address with the words "under God" included. Historian William E. Barton says:

: "Every stenographic report, good, bad and indifferent poor, says 'that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom.' There was no common source from which all the reporters could have obtained those words but from Lincoln's own lips at the time of delivery. It will not do to say that [Secretary of War] Stanton suggested those words after Lincoln's return to Washington, for the words were telegraphed by at least three reporters on the afternoon of the delivery".

The reporters who were there at that time included Joseph Gilbert, Charles Hale, John R. Young. There were also reporters from the *Cincinnati Commercial*, *New York Tribune*, and *New York Times*. "He  what he declared was the exact language of Lincoln's  associates confirmed his testimony, which was received, as it deserved to be at its face value". Lincoln probably spoke differently from what he had prepared and added the expression when he was speaking.

## Legacy 
.]]

The Gettysburg Address's importance in the history of the United States can be seen by the long time it has been a part of American culture. Popular works often refer to the Gettysburg Address as if expecting that the audience will know Lincoln's words. Many years have passed after the Address was delivered, but it is still one of the most famous speeches in American history. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous speech of "I Have a Dream" spoke of the Gettysburg Address.  In August 1963, King spoke of President Lincoln and his well-known words: "Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.  came as a  of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames ".

The Constitution of France spoke of France as a *"gouvernement du peuple, par le peuple et pour le peuple"* ("government of the people, by the people, and for the people"). This was a direct  of Lincoln's words.

The address has become a part of American tradition. It is studied in schools and warmly praised by writers. The Gettysburg Address shows an important interpretation of the Declaration of Independence that is still remembered and used. It is widely accepted as one of the most important documents in U.S. history, together with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. beloved, and most  of modern speeches.

## References 
## Bibliography 
* Barton, William E. (1950). *Lincoln at Gettysburg: What He Intended to Say; What He Said; What he was Reported to have Said; What he Wished he had Said*. New York: Peter Smith.
* Busey, John W., and Martin, David G., *Regimental Strengths and Losses at Gettysburg*, 4th Ed., Longstreet House, 2005, .
* Gramm, Kent. (2001)  ''November: Lincoln's Elegy at Gettysburg*. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. .
* Herndon, William H. and Welk, Jesse W. (1892) *Abraham Lincoln: The True Story of A Great Life* (Vol II). New York: D. Appleton and Company.
* Kunhardt, Philip B., Jr. (1983) *A New Birth of Freedom: Lincoln at Gettysburg.*  Little Brown & Co. 263 pp.&nbsp; 
* Lafantasie, Glenn. "Lincoln and the Gettysburg Awakening." *Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association* 1995 16(1): 73–89. Issn: 0898-4212 
* McPherson, James M. (1988). *Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Oxford History of the United States)*. Oxford: Oxford University Press. .
* McPherson, James M. (1996). *Drawn with the Sword: Reflections on the American Civil War*. Oxford: Oxford University Press.  
* Murphy, Jim. (1992) *The Long Road to Gettysburg*. New York: Clarion Books. 128 pp.&nbsp; 
* Prochnow, Victor Herbert. ed. (1944). *Great Stories from Great Lives*. Freeport: Books for Libraries Press, 1944. 
* Rawley, James A. (1966). *Turning Points of the Civil War*. University of Nebraska Press. .
* Reid, Ronald F. "Newspaper Responses to the Gettysburg Addresses." *Quarterly Journal of Speech* 1967 53(1): 50–60. Issn: 0033-5630.
* Sandburg, Carl. (1939)  "Lincoln Speaks at Gettysburg."  In: *Abraham Lincoln: The War Years* New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company. II, 452-457. ASIN: B000BPD8GC 
* Sauers, Richard A. (2000) "Battle of Gettysburg." In *Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History''. Heidler, David S., and Heidler, Jeanne T., eds. W. W. Norton & Company. .
* Selzer, Linda. "Historicizing Lincoln: Garry Wills and the Canonization of the 'Gettysburg Address."  *Rhetoric Review* Vol. 16, No. 1 (Autumn, 1997), pp.&nbsp;120–137. 
* Simon, et al., eds. (1999) *The Lincoln Forum: Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg, and the Civil War.*  Mason City: Savas Publishing Company. 
* White, Ronald C. Jr. (2005) *The Eloquent President: A Portrait of Lincoln Through His Words.* New York: Random House. 
* Wieck, Carl F. (2002) ''Lincoln's Quest for Equality: The Road to Gettysburg.* Northern Illinois University Press. 224 pp.&nbsp;
* Wills, Garry. (1992) *Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America*. New York: Simon and Schuster. 319 pp.&nbsp; 
* Wilson, Douglas L. (2006). *Lincoln's Sword: The Presidency and the Power of Words''. Knopf. 352 pp.&nbsp;

## Other websites 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* The Gettysburg Address recited by Sam Waterston, Matthew Broderick, Ken Burns, David McCullough, Stephen Lang, Medal of Honor recipient Paul W. Bucha. Music by Oscar©-winning composer John Williams.