Interesting, I didn't realize there were 5 different versions of the Gettysburg Address.
I was left with wanting to know if anyone has even tried to search for the Wills copy?
Has anyone written a book on how the Gettysburg Address had an impact on America, lets say 100 years after it was heard?
Also, how was life for the Civil War photographers, Matthew Brady and Alexander Gardner after the war?

Worthy evasions and delusions. If America were as it imagines, there would have been no civil war.

What a great book

I am in DC, where for the first time in decades I stood near the Capitol steps and visited the Lincoln Memorial, where I read this address again as it is engraved on the wall. The first real challenge to the country was the Civil War, and January 6 marks to me the second, though there may in fact have been many more.

Original review:
On this day, November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln, in order to dedicate the Gettysburg National Cemetery, delivered this address.

We all know now that Lincoln was not always opposed to slavery. He had, over time, to come to this position, that all humans should be free, as some are still struggling to acknowledge, apparently. He didn't always think that blacks were "equal" to whites. He was not a saint, he was probably as most whites were in the nineteenth century, racist for a good portion of his life. But he makes a good case here for freedom and equality as a basis for unity.

Here's the whole thing, in what has become known as the "Bliss" version, the one that hangs on the wall of the Lincoln Room in the White House:

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863

This is a copy of the actual, handwritten final draft (no, it wasn't written on the back of an envelope, as myth would have it), of several known drafts.

https://depts.washington.edu/particip...

Here's an artist's lithographic rendition of the occasion:

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/en...

Excellent.

Honra a los muertos, reconoce el grave problema de la guerra. Conciso, pero en el punto exacto para conmover al oyente.

I would like to respond to the unkind and unfair comments that the liberal press have made concerning Mr. Trump's recent speech, which they claim was plagiarized from President Lincoln's immortal words. There is absolutely no truth in these accusations. First, however much one may admire Lincoln, any American is allowed to express patriotic feelings without infringing his copyright. And second, Mr. Trump did not even say the same thing. Mr. Lincoln, as every schoolchild knows, said "government of the people, by the people, and for the people", but Mr. Trump said "government of the people, by the people, and for Mr. Trump".

Vote Trump!

Passing through Gettysburg so I thought I’d read this! (Only read the transcript not the illustrated version) It’s actually incredibly short. But very potent and poetic !

And that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Gettysburg Address was narrated after the Battle Of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. It was to honour the soldiers who died and sacrificed their lives, from both the Union and the Confederates.

A great speech of a great man, by a great man, for the world.

mediocre content. everythin lincoln did gets minus one star because he was too nice to the confederates.

Winning the war of words.

RAHHHHH

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this
continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate–we can not consecrate– we can not hallow–this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we
The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln
take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
-Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1863

I am utterly silent after reading this touching speech. I wonder what Lincoln would react to America today. Perhaps, he would turn over in his blessed grave after perceiving that the liberty that was once taken with blood, sweat, and tears is now fading away.