The Gettysburg Address

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The Gettysburg Address

• By Kaleb Fail

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The Gettysburg Address

• On November 19, 1863 Abraham Lincoln the
  President of the United States of America gave
  his very short speech that is well known by many
  people. It is called the Gettysburg Address it
  was delivered at the site of The Battle of
  Gettysburg. The speech dedicated the part of
  the battlefield as a national ceremony for those
  that lost their lives in the bloodiest battle of
  the Civil War. Where Union and Confederate
  armies had fought and where thousands had died.

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The Gettysburg Address

• He summed up the Civil War and its meaning to
  Americans. President Lincoln asked that those
  who died should not have did so in vain. That
  the nation under God, shall have a new birth of
  freedom and that government of the people, by
  the people, and for the people not perish from
  the earth.

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The Gettysburg Address

• Of the five known manuscript copies of the
  Gettysburg Address, the Library of Congress has
  two. President Lincoln gave one of these to each
  of his two private secretaries, John Nicolay and
  John Hay. The copy on exhibit, which belonged to
  John Nicolay, is often called the "first draft"
  because it is believed to be the earliest copy
  that exists.

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The Gettysburg Address

• The "second draft," probably made by Lincoln
  shortly after his return to Washington from
  Gettysburg, was given to John Hay, whose
  descendants donated both it and the John Nicolay
  copy to the Library of Congress in 1916. There
  are numerous variations in words and punctuation
  between the two drafts. These variations provide
  clues into President Lincoln's thinking and
  because these two drafts are the most closely
  tied documents to November 19, 1863 they continue
  to be consulted by scholars of the period.

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The Gettysburg Address

• President Lincolns speech was also famous
  because as you probably know his speech was not
  very long. Edward Everett spoke the same day
  just before President Lincoln. His long-winded
  speech took nearly two hours. Following Edward
  Everett President Lincoln got up and delivered a
  three-minute speech using only 237 words.

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The Gettysburg Address

• He had written five different versions of the
  address, working on the first version in
  Washington, D.C. and finishing it at Gettysburg.
  The second version was probably written on the
  evening before in Gettysburg. He held this
  second version in his hand during the address.
  But he still made several more changes after he
  began speaking. His most important change was to
  add the phrase Under God after the word
  Nation in the last sentences. President
  Lincoln also added that phrase to the three
  versions of the address that he wrote after the
  ceremonies at Gettysburg.

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The Gettysburg Address

• The fifth and final version of the address was
  actually written in 1864. It is also the only
  copy that President Lincoln signed. Even though
  it differs slightly from the actual speech he
  gave, it is carved on a stone plaque in the
  Lincoln Memorial.

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The Gettysburg Address

• At the time of President Lincolns Presidency,
  the nations newspapers largely followed party
  lines. Newspapers that supported the Democrats
  did not like President Lincolns speech this was
  due mostly to the fact that he was a Republican.
  But the Gettysburg Address now ranks as one of
  our most hallowed documents.