The Gettysburg Address and How it Shaped American History

In November of 1863 Abraham Lincoln set forth a proposal to help bring Americans together with an emphasis being on the north states, this allowed views on the civil war to be divided among the people so he could state his view of the United States as a whole. Lincoln gave a speech at Gettysburg PA to provide a direction and future for the American people during this war, the speech only lasted about two minutes and covered topics of Life, Liberty and the notion that all men are created equal. Lincoln and his presidency had a theme of bringing people together and then focusing on current events and issues during the war, most northerners did not believe in the idea of life and liberty but when they heard the 273 word speech views were changed for the better and sought more believers in the idea of Pursuit of Happiness in which our founding fathers believed when coming and first discovering North America as 13 colonies.

There are five different versions of this document around exhibits at multiple history museums to go and look at, I consider myself interested in history especially if it involves the awesome country we live in, these versions are categorized by the presidents they were named after. The names are Everett, Hay, Bliss, Bancroft and Nicolay. Lincoln wrote Bliss in 1864 after Colonel Alexander Bliss, this version is noted for being written on the Lincoln Memorial walls located in DC, it is the only version with Lincoln’s signature and today it is displayed in the Lincoln room of the White House.

Everett version was named after Edward Everett, the chief spokesperson at the cemetery dedication in Gettysburg, in 1864 he requested a copy from Lincoln for the purpose of a benefit fund to soldiers in the Union fighting for our country and freedom, it is housed at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Then there is the Nicolay version after John G. Nicolay, personal secretary of Lincoln himself and this one is the first rough draft of the speech being written in Washington in a stationary with the second page being on a type of card stock paper. The draft was given to Nicolay by Lincoln and he took it to Gettysburg and watched him as he spoke to the Union. The Library of Congress has this on display so feel free to visit. Go here to be directed to their website .

The Hay version Lincoln gave to John Hay and it is believed that this one is the second version of the speech, he served as his White House assistant and mentioned his speech in his diary by writing down his own thoughts of it after Lincoln spoke. If I was him I would be putting down bullet points as kind of a follower to help me keep track of what is being covered, it’s an important piece of American History after all, this version you can also find at the Library of Congress. Lastly the Bancroft version after George Bancroft, this one was used as a fundraiser for soldiers and you can find this copy at Cornell University. The battle of Gettysburg was a war of great challenges but knowing we eventually came to victory on the other side shows how strong our military is even as this event took place in the 1860s, I had a good time exploring this in my past classes and have deep respect for our President at that time.

The Battle of Gettysburg was a very important war in our time and we have a very strong military even in this event that happened in the 1860s, I hope and pray that this country stays on the track that our founding fathers would see it as. We still have a strong military to this day and I hope we continue to be strong in everything we do in our administration.

When we have a strong military we have a strong country so we need to continually keep all of our armed forces overseas in our prayers and thank them for serving. This makes our country a great place to live and I am proud to be a part of it.

-Tristan