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Was given at the dedication of a National Cemetery for soldiers killed during the civil war battle. This hourlong talk was part of a conference hosted by the Gettysburg College civil war institute. Our first speaker to kick off our conference is martin johnson. He is an associate professor of history at university of miami in ohio, where he teaches courses on Abraham Lincoln, the civil war, and modern europe. He earned his ph. D in 1993 from brown university. He has devoted much of his career to studying the 16th president of the united states. He is also the author of a number of books. In fact his first two books are on european history. One is on the paris commune. And the other is on the triefis affairs. Very diverse intellectual interest. Unlike most of us, can only right between 1861 and 1865. Martin certainly is able to go into other fields and to succeed in doing so. In 2014, martin earned the distinguished lincoln prize, lincoln prize as many of you know, is sponsored by Gettysburg College. He received that prize for writing the gettysburg address. Writing the gettysburg address is a superb book and it is a book that takes readers on lincolns journey. To gettysburg. Again, i dont want to give away too much. But i will simply say this, that it reveals how lincolns intellectual process. And that he was revising, rethinking, as he was coming to gettysburg and once he arrived here. This book is a piece of detective work. And two years ago, i think that martin and i decided he came here, february, the dead of winter. Just absolutely miserable and snowy and he gave an outstanding talk. So i dont want to inflate expectations too much but it was fantastic. As soon as i heard it, i knew he needed to come here and talk about his Important Research and findings to the cwi audience. So lets all give a warm welcome to martin johnson. [ applause ] thank you very much. What a pleasure to be here. Such a large audience. I appreciate it. We are here to talk about the gettysburg address and the lincoln and gettysburg moment. I got started on studying the gettysburg address because i was thinking about, you know, we have these moments in our American History that we celebrate. Moments that make us in many ways who we are. But sometimes you wonder whether these are mythic, whether they are elements that are added, especially for the gettysburg address that lincoln stories of writing the gettysburg address on the train, sudden inspiration or the work of long months of labor. How did he write the gettysburg address . And its really an important story because its part of the journey that we have as americans to understanding who we are and the nature of this american experience, this journey that were on, really. How we tell the story of who we are makes us who we are. We are the stories that we tell ourselves. As we live those stories, and we live up to those stories, we make america and we can make a better america. And one way we can see that is we look at this slide of lincoln in the temple. I like the name, the word here. In this temple as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever. And as long as we have stories like stories of lincoln and stories of the civil war and the valor and courage of the soldiers of the civil war, we can become the americans that we aspire to be. And the story of the lincoln gettysburg address helps us make that journey. So lets go well we are at gettysburg, lets get to gettysburg, lincoln got on the train the day before, november 18th. These slides have little to do with lincoln exactly except the slide here is the old union terminal, i believe its called, in washington that lincoln did depart from. But this gives us the old timeframe. Took many hours to get to gettysburg, down the track and there are stories on the train of lincoln writing his speech. He stopped along the way. They had to pick up water. The train evidently engines had to rest. For example here at Hanover Junction which is just up the road here, if you havent been to Hanover Junction, a wonderful place to visit, the Railroad Junction there was an important place. Lincoln went through there several times. They have restored the old depot, too. You will see images of Hanover Junction sometimes associated with lincoln. And they say sometimes lincoln is here on the platform. Lincoln is probably not in these pictures. These pictures were probably taken in fact the day before lincoln was there. When a whole group of people, marshals for the parade and for the ceremonies at gettysburg were going up to gettysburg and they were stranded there for hours and hours and had nothing to do but take a lot of pictures. There is a tall man in a top hat in many of these photos, and most likely, it is not lincoln. Lincoln went to Hanover Junction and he rattled down the rails farther to get to gettysburg. We know that he didnt write on the train because in a sense he tells us that. And he told his attorney general the story of him being on the train and being at gettysburg. So i would like to organize my talk a little bit around that journey that lincoln took and the story that james speed, his attorney general, told. And speed came to washington after the gettysburg ceremony. About a year later in fact. He was not at the ceremony. He did not see anything. What he tells us is what lincoln told him. So listening to james speed we are listening to what lincoln said about his journey to the gettysburg address. And as james speed said, about a year after the ceremony in casual conversation one evening with lincoln, lincoln said he was very uncertain as to whether he could go, whether his duties would not detain him in washington. Anxious to go. Important note there, anxious to go. Desired to be prepared to say some appropriate things. The letter of invitation gave him expectations for a short speech but a speech that had to be appropriate to the occasion one of the most impressive ceremonies of the mid century. The gathering on a battlefield like this had never taken place. And lincoln, of course, rarely left washington, d. C. He never left washington, d. C. In order to give a speech, for example. This is major event. He did want to say some appropriate things because the organizers asked him to say some appropriate things, but he knew this was an important event. But he knew too he wasnt going to be the main speaker. It had to be short and appropriate. Here is the Lincoln White house. At the time of the civil war, you imagine lincoln busy here in the white house. Not sure he is going to gettysburg. In fact he only decided at the very last moment possible and most likely. Probably the very weekend before going to gettysburg is when he decided to go, because the monday before the ceremony, thats when the newspapers sent out the world that lincoln has finally decided to go to gettysburg. It wasnt until the next day that they had the Railroad Schedule set. It was really a lastminute decision he made that he would go. He wanted to go but wasnt sure he could go. And as he told speed, the day before he left, he found time to write about half a speech. Here we have images of lincoln in the, what was at that time his office. Today the lincoln bedroom. He is at the table where the emancipation proclamation was signed earlier that year. On new years day of that year. And i love the picture of him standing up for example. In some ways it is as close to a candid shot as you can get of lincoln. Hows standing at the desk there. You dont see it reproduced a lot because his face is obscured and some people sometimes try to retouch his face and it doesnt turn out too well. Its just beautiful the way it stands. You can see his desk and the famous pigeonhole desk behind him there where he kept his stories. He would say let me find the letter and rummage through his desk and always be able to find it somehow, but he had this amazing filing system. And probably at this desk then that night before leaving for gettysburg, as he told james speed, the day before he left, he found time to write about half the speech. Probably at that table. Probably in what today is called the lincoln bedroom. Very appropriate because now the lincoln bedroom has the honor of housing one of the five handwritten copies that lincoln wrote. There are only five handwritten copies of the gettysburg address. The last one, sometimes most important to people, the last one is in the lincoln bedroom. He wrote it there and now it is enshrined there. What does it mean to write about half of a speech . I think this is half of the speech he was talking about. Half of the speech today in which is the first page, nickel a copy of the gettysburg address. All in ink on executive mansion letterhead. Beautifully written. Bold hand, no hesitation whatsoever. This is a draft thats the result of thought and this is a final version in many ways or version that was intended to be final. As i note on the side, i call this the washington draft because this is the only fragment we have remaining of the speech as he wrote it in washington before coming to gettysburg. The washington draft, the first page of what is often called the nickel aide copy, all in ink. As you see the last page, it is rather for us, the living, to stand here. You never heard those words, to stand here, in the gettysburg address that you memorized or read. Because lincoln revises this speech when he gets to gettysburg. But he doesnt revise it on the train. We know that from what he told james speed. And from the rest of his journey. He came to gettysburg, arrived at the station which i hope you all get a chance to see and have seen. Its been beautifully remodeled and its now part of the National Park service, i understand. And he was whisked away from the station, greeted by Edward Everett who would be guest speaker the next day. David wills is hosting gettysburg is there. An enormous crowd, crowding around the station waiting for lincoln to come in. It was about 6 00 at night or so. It was november, so it was rather dark and the moon was already out and cloudy. It had been raining earlier the day, blustery and windy. Edward did not go outside that day because he wanted to preserve his voice and not catch a cold or something. They whisked him away to his home of, of course, his host in gettysburg. I dont have to tell many people here about david wills, but hes a very important man in the story of the gettysburg address and really the american story in many ways. He was a young lawyer at the time. Probably younger when lincoln was engaged. About 33 years old at that time. Lived in the grandest house on the main square, as you know. And he had been, for months and months, organizing the treatment of the wounded and the dying, the care for the battlefield and the soldiers. He had been commissioned by the governor of pennsylvania, andrew curtain, commissioned by the governor of pennsylvania, to take care of the battlefield dead. And he was then the person who is the main leader behind the Gettysburg Cemetery and behind the ceremony that lincoln was going to now attend. Possibly david wills was among those who at the time who thought that lincoln maybe was not going to traz the level of discourse. Lincoln before this had not given the gettysburg address. He was not known as the eloquent speaker in 1863 or so. He has not given the second inaugural. So lincoln at this time is still very much viewed as a western rube politician by many people. It is possible david questioned whether he could in fact rise to the occasion. At the wills house, there were greetings. There was individuals, notables from the town came to meet lincoln. A man who had been wounded shook lincolns hand there and said it was the proudest moment of his life. In the evening, at around 9 00 or so, arrived out in front of the house here, the front door here. Arrived out there, the band for the ninth new york infantry. That was a signal they were going to have a grand serenade. Its a charming 19th century ceremony where they would play music, they would demand the notable would say a few words, they would and demand that the notable would come out and say a few words, they would march around a little bit and the notable would go back inside and everyone would clap. Lincoln made them stand outside 45 minutes or so, yelling for him to come out. Thats very important to know for the story of the gettysburg address, because lincoln, it was after he was talking to the serenade, a brief word or two, that he went back inside and its after that that he went upstairs and started writing what we think of as the gettysburg address. Heres the man who made that possible. I show you this picture earlier. It turns out that i got the large version, thats actually david wills in his carriage and i think this picture was probably taken about 1892, just after david wills had written his account of how lincoln had written the gettysburg address. David wills, you notice this is a photograph not of the wills family. This isnt your standard 19th century family. This is a picture of a house. Because david wills wants you to know thats the house that lincoln wrote the gettysburg address in. He had just written his story about how that had happened. Signed it like an affidavit. Wills by this time was a judge. He wanted to make sure that this is where lincoln read the gettysburg address, up in the second floor window. If anybody knows who awe all the individuals in the photo are, id be very happy to know that. Thank you. He went upstairs then and heres what james speed told him. He took what he had written with him to gettysburg, the half a speech. He was put in an upper room. And asked to be left alone for a while. The upper room is interesting. Because remember speed only knows what lincoln told him. This is, he told the speed of in 187, this is 15 years after lincoln had told him. He remembered it was in the upper room, the upper room is in no other source as far as i can tell, if james speakle knows that lincoln had told him he would be housed in an upper room. We know this is a very reliable account. And lincoln is talking to us in many ways through james speed. He was put into an upper room. You can imagine serenaders are out front. Every notable in the county is coming to you. A dozen governors are expected in town that night. He needs to prepare a speech. He concluded shortly before he was delivered. And heres the earlier quote. You can visit the room today, it looks a little bit different. But. After revising for a time he says i want to talk to william stewart, my secretary of state. How do i get to him . And so you have this amazing story of david wills, his host, the governor of pennsylvania has arrived by that time. Andrew curtain. And several guards. Gathering in lincolns room and hustling lincoln out to the streets to go to the house where William Seward was staying. Lincoln was worried. He knew there was a huge crowd out there. He didnt like talking extemporaneously while he was president. He was afraid he would make a mistake or something. He told the governor of pennsylvania, you go out and keep the people from me and i will go see seward. So the governor of pennsylvania, curtain, stands up and gives one of those speeches that we know nobody said. Friends here, good to be here tonight and lincoln is going next door to see William Seward. William seward is staying at the house of a local important family, a newspaper owner and lincoln wanted to talk to him about his speech. Its probable, its likely i think that seward did help linken with his speech. Most likely the last few words of the speech, the poetry, you might say, we all know that stewart helped lincoln with the last few lines of the first inaugural. The mystic courts of memory. The idea came from stewart and the phrasing came from stewart. Lincoln made his own. Many people think its better than stewarts originally. But stewart did provide help on the first inaugural. Its probably just the same with the gettysburg address. Douglas wilson, a very fine scholar, one reason i think that might be the case, too, is that steward liked the word perish, he used exactly the phrase parish, in a speech before. Inken did not use parish that often, it was not a favorite word of his. But perish from the earth, i think is seward through and through, it does add a beautiful touch. Lincoln talks to steward, reads the speech to steward. After half an hour he talks to some of the people at the house where steward is staying. Then he has to have bodyguards have to take him through the crowds once again, back to the wills house. He returns to the wills house then and this again, speed had said, he concluded shortly so he would have time to memorize it. After talking to steward, he finished his revision. Wrote out what he thought was going to be the gettysburg address the next day. The speech that lincoln wrote that night that evening at gettysburg, is an intermediate draft. Thats not the gettysburg address, either. The speech he brought from washington is not the gettysburg address. And that we have on the wall of the Lincoln Memorial and elsewhere. The gettysburg undoubtedly thought as he went it bed that night it was going to be the speech that he gave the next day. Thats not the speech that he gave. The journey continuing starts in washington. And it continues. The next morning, the next morning before going to the battlefield, Lincoln Seward evidently the night before, had cooked up a trip to the battlefield. In part we know that, a newspaper at the time of the next day after the ceremony, quotes steward as saying i visited the ground around the seminary this morning and mr. Lincoln joined me. Seward and lincoln traveled up to the Seminary Ridge and visited some of the key sites that were known even at the time. I have here magnificent, photographic history. Because this image comes from that. And they visited the ground around the seminary for very specific reasons. Already now this is only four months after the battle, already there was kind of a pilgrimage route taking shape. Gettysburg was entering the historical memory. Of the union and maybe of the united states. Born in the united states. And pilgrimage route often started at Seminary Ridge. It was recognized to be a key point. There were stories of heaps of human limbs out the windows of the seminary course which had been used as a hospital amputation. Lincoln and others knew lees headquarters was quite nearby. He may have known, certainly knew of john burns but may have known that john burns had fought up in that region, the socalled hero of gettysburg. He had already been famous in harpers what other denizen of gettysburg made the cover of harpers weekly . I dont think there was any other. John burns, fought in the war of 1812, in the mexicanamerican war, grabbed his musket and went to the battlefield to defend his home and farm, somewhat of an irascible character, evidently in town lore. He has a statue and he has a poem and he has fame. He was out by the Seminary Ridge. But lincoln certainly knew about another event out on Seminary Ridge. The death of John Reynolds. Lincoln had called him to the white house before the battle and offered command of the army of the potomac to John Reynolds before the battle. Reynolds knew that he was a battlefield general, he wasnt he did not like the political, i think, aspects of being in the command of the entire army of the potomac. He declined and meade was given command. Reynolds was out in front. He was in control of the battlefield. He had two corps under command. He was in control of the battlefield on the first day of battle but he was in front of his soldiers perhaps 50 yards from approaching Confederate Forces when he was shot from his horse in the ground around the seminary in what is today called reynolds woods. That event was instantly famous. He was on the cover of, of course, harpers weekly. His death was immortalized in a series of first drawings and etchings. Lincoln called him my friend John Reynolds. He knew of his death and he telegraphed immediately after the news of the death arrived, he telegraphed asking about what happened and he received word that the body had been carried back first to lancaster for a large procession and funeral and internment. Lincoln knew of John Reynolds. He knew it had taken place in these woods. Maybe he knew the woods around the seminary. Certainly thats where seward and lincoln went when they knew they were visiting the battlefield. Lincoln had also seen these images, of course, famous images. And these images were hanging in the art gallery photographic studio that the photographer, gardner had in washington when lincoln visited the studio. They were in his catalog that had just appeared in september. Of course, the dedication ceremony was in november. Just appeared in the catalog. These were notable pictures. People were very interested in the images. These were among the first to show the battlefield dead and the gettysburg battlefield dead inspired tremendous interest. Lincoln visited the gallery, he saw those images undoubtedly because they were on the walls when he was there. This is, of course, the picture that one of the photos taken of lincoln, socalled gettysburg portrait its sometimes called. When we think of him at gettysburg, i think this is one of the images we want to have in our minds. This is the lincoln that his secretary called a back woods jupiter hurling thunder bolts from the center of power in washington, commanding armies, making strong generals quail and enforcing his will upon senators and representatives alike. So after visiting the battlefield, then, lincoln returns to the wills home, up to the upperlevel room. The morning of the speech, then. And instead of simply looking over the words he had written the night before, he engages in more what i think of as a crash revision of the gettysburg address. It shows he was finding a new understanding of the war, coming to words that we will find inspiring and that we will etch in stone. This is a document he created in the upperlevel room in gettysburg. The first half is the part that came from washington, socalled washington draft, the first page of the nikolay copy. The second page is different paper. Its in pencil, not ink. It shows, again, but there are no revisions on the second page either. The only revision to this document, here, instead of, it is for us, it is for us the living to stand here. He has written instead, it is rather for us, the living, we here be dedica and then continues to the next page. Its ungrammatical. You havent heard that in your gettysburg address here because this is a crash revision. There is another change he makes probably at the same time too. Having returned from the battlefield, having seen the sights that reynolds saw as he was shot from his horse, as he walked the same ground that the army of the potomac and the confederacy fought over. He made another change. A small one that speaks volumes. He underlined in pencil what they did here. That and the change here, the only edits to this document, the first page. I think he is looking over the speech when he underlines did. Hes thinking what am i going to say, how am i going to emphasize things. He underlines just one word, what they did here because the power was coming to him more strongly than it could have in washington, in the Lincoln Office that he was using. When he was in washington, it was in his imagination, in his minds eye that he saw gettysburg. Walking the battlefield i think is a very different thing i think as weve all experienced who have seen this. Why did he mike this transition between two very different pages . Theres one element i think in the second page that is new, novel, and astonishing, and that is the second page is the page that contains the phrase a new birth of freedom. I think its that phrase, that phrase that lincoln knew he was aiming for when he was revising the first page. He had written the second page, and then he had to make this work. And changed we here stand here to we here be dedicated. Dedicated is an emotion. Standing is a status. Its passive. No matter how you think of it, standing is basically a passive stance. To be dedicated is an emotional commitment. I think thats the idea, thats the emotional commitment that lincoln was feeling. Where does the new birth of freedom come from . What was he feeling at gettysburg, and how did he draw up that phrase . It came from his thinking about what the war meant and was. Because at the very time he went to gettysburg, lincoln was thinking about and writing. He had already started to write what we today call his state of the union speech when he got back to washington. Then it was called the annual message. But essentially the state of the union. This is the first time that lincoln issues a general reconstruction policy. It was widely anticipated. Lincoln had been thinking about it for a long time. And the gettysburg address and this reconstruction policy, in the december message of 1863, were written at exactly the same moment. They illuminate each other. So, in the december message, which we date to december 8th, was actually written the same time as the gettysburg address, bracketing the same weekend, in the december message lincoln tells us some of the things he is thinking about when he is thinking about the new birth of freedom. For example, in the december message he talks about the problems that emancipation had caused originally. He knew there would be a problem with emancipation, that dark days would come because of political opposition. We know, too, that the elections that occurred after the emancipation proclamation had been announced they were tremendous blows to the republican party. He believed that if the same movement continued in 1863, the war could not be sustained if they had similar electoral losses in 1863 as in 1862. And so, the emancipation proclamation, he knew would cause tremendous upheaval and military and political difficulty. Even with the emancipation proclamation we all understand it was a limited measure, military measure, even a union that was reconstructed would have been a union that incorporated slavery in the socalled border slave union states. And so emancipation was not a thorough solution, was not a reconstruction program. It was a military measure to get soldiers on the field and to make sure that britain and france didnt intervene and to make this war a war about freedom. In addition, lincoln in his message of 1863 said the trial of africanamericans soldiers proved that they were as good as soldiers as any. Thats an important phrasing for lincoln. As good as any. Thats basically putting the metric as one of equality or inequality. He is saying equality. As good of soldiers as any. That had been proven over the previous six to nine months before gettysburg, on the battlefield. Proven to people like lincoln and others who had originally questioned whether africanamerican troops would be an asset to union forces. He knew politically it was going to cause difficulty. Around the time of gettysburg, lincoln is beginning to think about and people are talking about what will become the 13th amendment, the antislavery amendment. He has not spoken publicly about it at this point, but there are indications that in november, december and certainly in january, just after gettysburg, lincoln is speaking in ways that suggest he is favorable to it, however, he is moving slowly and cautiously. This is one of those examples where lincoln is being prudent, not getting out in front of certain issues because he, in this case, there is a sense that maybe if he was too much for it, some of the democrats who at that time were also for it might turn against it. He was worried about the partisan politics involved in the 13th amendment. These are the things lincoln was thinking about. Emancipation. Abolition of slavery. Africanamerican soldiers, when he said in 1863 after at the time of gettysburg, the crisis which threatened to divide the friends of the union has been past. Gettysburg has been won. Vicksburg has been won. The armies are victorious and on the offensive. Thus he has wrote in the message of 1863, the new reckoning. Does that sound familiar . At gettysburg he is putting the same ideas together in a more poetic way as a new birth of freedom. The key provision, key policy change in the december message of 1863 is lincoln will not accept slavery in the union. Any slave states that come back to the union have to abolish slavery as a part of their constitutions. Whereas, the emancipation proclamation freed slaves. The new policy was to end slavery. And that we sometimes dont understand the transition that has to occur across from 1862 to 1863 and 1864, its all over with the emancipation proclamation. In many ways it was only the electoral victory of lincolns reelection that solved the question. But he is saying here, the new reckoning, the new birth of freedom, its a union without slavery. Its not the union as it was. And its not the the union of four score and seven years ago. Its a union of a new birth of freedom. And that phrase, as far as we know, the first time lincoln comes to that phrase, the new birth of freedom, is in the morning of the speech at gettysburg, in the upper room, after visiting the battlefield, when he writes, in pencil here it is in pencil the nation 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. You knew the new birth of freedom is associated with this eternal vision of an American Union which is now cleansed of its greatest stain. This new birth of freedom, then, he tucks the document you can see the fold marks. He tucks it and puts it in his coat pocket. He goes to the central square. Weve walked around it and will in the days ahead. You have to imagine then, horses, groups, civic organizations, odd fellows wearing outlandish attire. It was bedlam down there on the square as they were getting ready to march out to the ceremony. You know, about a mile south of town, down this road. And lincoln, on this trip, smiles. He is greeting people. Somebody lifts a child up to him, he gives her a kiss and hands her down to the father, the proud father. On this trip lincoln starts out in a joyful mood. People are laughing. Its kind of raucous. Its a celebration. But as they get down towards the cemetery, where the graves can be seen on the hillside, a new tone begins to be felt. And so here were south looking north towards the center of town, and you can see these are the bayonets of the guarding troops which will come down to, and then theyre going to turn right here. Theyre going to turn right here so they can go sort of around to the cemetery. Another image of this. There are three images. The third image is one, however, that when you focus in william pointed this out when you focus in i am sorry. When you focus in, you can see a man on a horse in a top hat, and he does not have a sash. Lincoln was not wearing a sash. Most of the marshals, the others, were wearing sashes, well see an example coming up of a tall man in a top hat on a horse wearing a sash, not lincoln. This is undoubtedly lincoln. The photographer had set up his station exactly to catch this scene exactly because he knew as they turned this way, the people in front of lincoln would momentarily be out of the way and lincoln would come into view. And this is when he snapped this shot. As far as i know this has not been recognized as one of the official photos of lincoln. Possibly there is some doubt, but i think it possibly should be added to that list. Lincoln was coming down this way. This is an aerial view. The turn he made was here. Then came around this way to the cemetery. Evergreen is over here. They did not go through Evergreen Cemetery. Wills made sure they avoided the Evergreen Cemetery because he was not happy with the leader of the cemetery. They went away from it and went this way. They came probably up the center of what we think of now as the center of the cemetery, maybe they came up this way here. But there is a little sunken road here. And this picture this picture was taken from one of the houses that was over here, probably from a secondfloor window. Its in the local Hanover Area Historical Society collection. Its a relatively little known photo but anita dug it out for us and i am showing it here. Were looking up the hill, perhaps i dont know if you can see, perhaps well, yes. There is a flag here. Large flagpole. There is the gatehouse to the Evergreen Cemetery. Just on the other side of the hill from here. So the parade came up this way and probably up one of these spokes here. As they got to the top of the hill, this is what greeted them. We are approaching the cemetery grounds. That flagpole that is here is now on our left. The Evergreen Cemetery house is straight ahead. There it is. We have come up the hill a little bit to this point, approximately here. Now were looking straight on. This is one of the Alexander Gardner photos. We are looking straight through the arch of the gatehouse. He set it up for that purpose. Its clear thats why this camera is here at this point. Its raking almost across the front of the speaker stand. Probably the speaker stand is pointed a little bit towards this direction over here, not straight down towards the flag. Here is the speaker stand. Behind the speaker stand is a tent that Edward Everett had asked for. He was 72 years old. He knew it would be hours and hours out there. He wanted to make sure he had the accommodations necessary. He asked for a tent. He asked for a chamber pot. He was given the run of the tent just beforehand. There was a group of people in there with him. And he had a hard time shushing them out. It was everetts tent, behind the speaker stand. In this picture many people believe they can find lincoln in various ways, perhaps, personally i dont think so. So, again, we are looking from above. Now were going to go to the other side of the field. We came up this way. Now well go to the other side toward the current gatehouse, over here. This image is a magnificent vista, a beautiful as far as i can tell, virtually everything in here is accurate except perhaps this tree having a lot of leaves on it which probably did not happen in november. There were stories of people selling lemonade and souvenirs and things like this along baltimore pike. The parade had come up from the other side and come up this way somehow, perhaps. There is the front of the speaker stand. They walked in the front of the stand and filled in this area here which soldiers had kept open. They had kept it over for the reserve for the parade to come in. Here we have another image. The same image except its from one of the windows of this building looking out onto the field. The flagpole is right there. The speaker stand is over here. So this was the graves of the cemetery over here. Lets get closer. Lets go into this area right here. There is the flagpole. Lets stand right about here in front of the stand with the flagpole now on our right, right in here, closer. There we go. There is the flagpole. The speaker stand in front of us, its very indistinct. Of course, many of you know the story. In 1954, employee of the National Archives was looking at the picture and said nobody knows where this picture was taken. Some people thought it was antietam. Blow it up, and there on the speaker stand is none other than Abraham Lincoln sitting on the platform at gettysburg, about to give the gettysburg address. Undoubtedly this is beforehand. I think i have another image but its not very distinct. There he is right there. Im going to go back to the other one. Here is lincoln. Here is the man tall guy on the horse with the sash that i was talking about. Somebody was telling me ward lamon didnt have a beard at this time, however, so i am a little bit concerned about that. I thought it was ward lamon. Ill go with that until i have another photograph to tell me differently. They had to wait a few minutes, and Edward Everett then emerged from his tent. As we mentioned there was some difficulty there. He emerged and came forward to the stand. Everybody stood up. The main speaker of the day. Et everett was a man who held every major office except Vice President , president. Ambassador to britain. Secretary of state. Senator, governor of massachusetts. He was on the downside of his career at this point but still somewhat of a controversial figure, especially among abolitionists and other antislavery people who did not appreciate everetts attempts through this 1840s and 1850s to keep the union together by not emphasizing antislavery, by not talking too much about slavery. He was one of those who hoped that the problem would take care of itself if it wasnt talked about much. Of course, as you know, in the 1850s, that wasnt going to get you far in massachusetts. He retired from politics somewhat under a cloud. He then took to public speaking. He is one of the people who very much important for creating National Historical memory about washingtons mount vernon, for example. He was known as one of the great orators. A little bit of a bygone era. The orders of the 1840s and 1850s, perhaps. His speech is often compared to lincolns to, of course, not to the advantage of everett. But everett gave a speech that brought lincoln to tears. You have to imagine. Theyre sitting on the battlefield. Theyre seeing these kinds of sights. This is taken actually in november of 1863 on the battlefield of gettysburg. Theyre interring some of the bodies. The freshly dug graves were in front of them. One reporter described it like flower beds freshly dug. The scene became somber and the graves set the tone for this being a sacred ceremony. Everett rose to the occasion. Those accounts that we have that are denigrating of everett or accounts generally by newspapers editors who were back home reading the speech. If you were there, at the event, during the hour and a half or two hours or so, there was universal praise, virtually universal praise for everetts speech, because it did bring people to tears. Lincoln then stepped forward. And of course, there is that moment, that its almost a void. We know so much about what happened before, so much about what happens after. We have to fill in with iconography and images. Here is what we maybe should be thinking about when we think about lincoln standing on the platform. Standing with no gestures. Maybe the sweep of his right hand at one point. This image here, which is in chicago and elsewhere, that perhaps gives a very good impression too. Standing and speaking his words in a loud, clear, ringing voice, a voice that could be heard by hundreds and thousands in front of him. He knew how to speak in the open air. He still had, to eastern ears he still had that kentucky lilt and accent. A chair, what youre sitting in, he called a cheer, for example. But that voice is one that could be heard across the battlefield. And when he stepped forward, he then spoke and gave to the speech his new dedication, which he had felt that morning. He had imagined being there in washington. He had walked now the battlefield. And now he had heard everetts speech. He had heard the prayer. He had heard the hymns. He had seen the graves. He had stood on that platform for two hours. Looking at the scene around him, the beautiful scenery. It was a beautiful fall day by the time the ceremony took place. About 52 degrees, probably. What he said had impressed everett so much that everett, who was the premier critic of oratory at the time, perhaps, said, the next day, i should be glad, if i could flatter myself that i came as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes. Those kinds of comparisons have lasted to the present day. Everett was among the first to make them. The poor fellow. It didnt work out to his benefit. But lincoln took to heart everetts words. And james speed remembered this is the culmination of lincoln telling the story to james speed. Lincoln told james speed about the story and lincoln told me, according to speed, he had never received a compliment he prized more highly. Because lincoln had endowed that speech not just with words but with his feeling. He had been to the battlefield. And we can see that when we try to understand what he said there. We have the words on the page. But what did he say . Now we have to look to the newspapers and other sources. And here, the second half of this phrase here, was added by lincoln on the battlefield, on the stand. He had already underlined, of course, this word here here. The world will not long what we say here but can never forget what they did here. It was the most quoted phrase of the speech at the time and for years afterwards. That was the part of the speech because they were commemorating real living dead. Many of the thousands in front of lincoln were sons, brothers, wives, daughters, parents of soldiers who had died or been injured at gettysburg. This spoke to them, and it spoke to lincoln too. He added extemporaneously, it is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work that they have thus far so nobly carried on. The second page also has two words that are new and original to this document. Devotion. Theyre not found on the first page. Its at gettysburg he adds those words to his speech. The speech that he brought from washington had dedicated in it. The speech that he wrote that morning contained the word dedicated. The revision that he made in gettysburg, he added the word dedicated. And then when he spoke, he added another version of the word dedicated. Six times he put the word dedicated in his speech. Even on the stand. Feeling those emotions. Feeling the power of that moment, the word came to him for a sixth time. And so its in that phrase that occurs here, you see, from here to here, the spoken words. That join together the washington version of lincolns words and the gettysburg version of lincolns words. Thinking about the founding, the revolutionary era, four score and seven years ago. Those thoughts are from the first page that he wrote in washington. But the dedication, the devotion, the emotional power is in the second page and its in the phrase, the people the time did not remark upon, a phrase that was not in his written draft. A phrase that he added while standing on the battlefield, while standing on the platform. He added. There are various a number of versions of the gettysburg address in various newspapers. This is a draft he held in his hand, the battlefield draft. These are other newspaper versions. The newspaper versions pretty much all agree that he said that the nation shall, under god. Later on when he revised it he moved the under god here is where he moved it. And that phrase under god then is shows the power of that gettysburg moment to lincoln, the power of the speeches, the prayers, seeing the graves. And this is why we have that phrase in our pledge of allegiance. It was added, of course, in the 1950s as part of our fight against communism, a godless communism they called it at the time. And one nation under god was added in 1954 as part of that and much of the arguments in favor was on the basis that lincoln spoke those words at gettysburg which he undoubtedly did. So this is how lincoln got to gettysburg. The journey that he made, starting with one text in washington, ending with another text in gettysburg, the revisions even on the battlefield itself. Those revisions made the gettysburg address that we have today and even the words that our children recite in classrooms all over the country today. I thank you very much. [ applause ] we have time for questions and they need to go to the mi microphon microphones. I am told that there is time for questions if there are any and please use the microphone if you have any questions. Dont leave me hanging up here. Theyre going. There they are. Thank you. Hey, martin. In your book you said that lincoln was talking moderate but leaning radical. Eric foner would argue that lincolns thinking on slavery evolved over the course of his presidency. Do you agree with that or do you think that lincoln always intended to abolish slavery but was just looking for the right political moment . Good question. I dont think lincoln started the war thinking were going to abolish slavery by hook or by crook. But i think his antislavery credentials are clear before the war. I think he took advantage of every opportunity. When he saw especially in 1862 he believed antislavery it was deeply controversial. And he feared, as i believe he was right from the elections of 1862, that taking antislavery measures might hurt the union, and maintaining the union was the overall goal. But it had to be here is where the tension comes with lincoln. It has to be a union worth fighting for, so the ideals have to be preserved. So you cannot allow slavery to be extended. If he hadnt been antislavery, a compromise could have been reached easily before the war started got going, really. So the the ideals are the most important element, but in practical reality they had to be preserved through the constitution, and that requires political support. So he had to move slowly. He did take advantage of his opportunities, i think. But there was no plan in advance, i dont believe. Thank you. Al mackie from mechanicsburg, pennsylvania, where do you stand on the accuracy of lehmans claim that after lincoln gave the speech he came back and said it wont scal. It emerges in the late 70s. It was much discussed at the time. People like david wills and james speed. James speed was prompted by fighting against what he said. They said, no, lincoln did not feel that way. I, in the in the book i argue that lincoln probably, as he did, often spoke deprecatingly with his words. He talked about them being short, short, short, the few remarks that i gave. He was not one to puff up his achievements or accomplishments. When you talked to him about his speech, he could easily say, yes, these few words or something of this sort. People might have heard him saying, its not so great, i am not that but what he said to james speed about the compliment that everett gave him, and then later there are other indications that i give in the back that lincoln did understand that his speech was something people talked about and recognized and lincoln himself came to understand had been more than just a speech. I believe lincoln before the end of his life did see the emerging legend grow. He told that story to james speed in part to account for that. Hi. You said that david wills did not get along with i imagine you mean elizabeth thorn mcconaughey was the person he didnt get along with. What was the issue they had . Well, i would like to hear from local lore and legend if i could. I have looked high and low for specifics about that. David wills and David Mcconaughy seem to be republicans. There might have been political shading. But their problem, as one of the gettysburg committees that was looking into it at the time told the governor of pennsylvania, its peculiar relations between these men that are causing problems. They didnt say what they were. Some people think there must have been romance involved. There have been suggestions of that. I have been looking at that. Its a very interesting problem. Mcconaughy was nowhere near lincoln. He was kept away from lincoln and lincoln was kept away from the Evergreen Cemetery. Thank you very much [ applause ] cities across the usa are removing or considering taking down their confederate statues. President trump tweeted about it today saying sad the see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments. You cant change history but you can learn from it. Robert e. Lee, stonewall jackson, whos next, washington . Jefferson . So foolish. Also, the beauty that is being taken out of our cities, towns and parks will be greatly missed and never able to be comparably replaced. There are a number of confederate statues in the u. S

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