Long Remembered: Lincoln and his Five Versions of the Gettysburg Address

2011

Special Collections E475.55 L663 2011

Delray Beach, Florida: Levenger Press

Written on presidential stationery, this manuscript is a facsimile of one of the first drafts of the Gettysburg Address. President Abraham Lincoln (1809-65) delivered the speech on the occasion of the memorial dedication at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on November 19, 1863. Lasting a short two minutes, the speech is considered by some to be the most famous and important speech given by an American. It is thought that Lincoln was influenced by the oratory techniques of the ancient Greeks, especially those in Pericles’s funeral oration recounted by Thucydides.The techniques include acknowledging forebears and those slain in battle, reiterating the democratic principles of the state and encouraging those who are living to continue to strive for the ‘cause’.