The Gettysburg Address History Details, President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, Invitation
to the Gettysburg Soldiers National Cemetery, National Cemetery Dedication, President Abraham Lincoln
Gettysburg Nov. 2 1863
To His Excellency, A. Lincoln
President U. S.
Sir,
The Several States having Soldiers in the Army of the Potomac, who were killed
at the Battle of Gettysburg, or have since died at the various hospitals which were established in the vicinity, have procured
grounds on a prominent part of the Battle Field for a Cemetery, and are having the dead removed to them and properly buried.
These Grounds will be Consecrated and set apart to this Sacred purpose, by
appropriate Ceremonies, on Thursday, the 19th instant. Hon Edward Everett will deliver the Oration.
I am authorized by the Governors of the different States to invite you to
be present, and participate in these Ceremonies, which will doubtless be very imposing and solemnly impressive.
It is the desire that, after the Oration, you, as Chief Executive of the Nation,
formally set apart these grounds to their Sacred use by a few appropriate remarks.
It will be a source of great gratification to the many widows and orphans
that have been made almost friendless by the Great Battle here, to have you here personally; and it will kindle anew in the
breasts of the Comrades of these brave dead, who are now in the tented field or nobly meeting the foe in the front, a confidence
that they who sleep in death on the Battle Field are not forgotten by those highest in Authority; and they will feel that,
should their fate be the same, their remains will not be uncared for.
We hope you will be able to be present to perform this last solemn act to
the Soldiers dead on this Battle Field.
I am with great Respect, Your Excellency's Obedient Servant,
David Wills
Agent for A. G. Curtin Gov. of Penna. and acting for all the States
Source: Library of Congress
Recommended
Reading:
Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America (Simon & Schuster Lincoln
Library). Description: The power of words has rarely been given a more compelling
demonstration than in the Gettysburg Address. Lincoln was
asked to memorialize the gruesome battle. Instead he gave the whole nation "a new birth of freedom" in the space of a mere
272 words. His entire life and previous training and his deep political experience went into this, his revolutionary masterpiece.
Continued below...
By examining both
the address and Lincoln in their historical moment and cultural frame, Wills breathes new life into words
we thought we knew, and reveals much about a president so mythologized but often misunderstood. Wills shows how Lincoln desired to change the world and…how his words had to and did complete the work of the guns,
and how Lincoln wove a spell that has not yet been broken.
NEW!
Recommended Reading:
Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief (Hardcover). Description: Description:
Author James McPherson, Pulitzer Prize Winner and bestselling Civil War historian, illuminates how Lincoln worked with—and often against— his senior commanders to defeat the Confederacy
and create the role of commander in chief as we know it. Though Abraham Lincoln arrived at the White House with no previous
military experience (apart from a couple of months spent soldiering in 1832), he quickly established himself as the greatest
commander in chief in American history. James McPherson illuminates this often misunderstood and profoundly influential aspect
of Lincoln’s legacy. In essence, Lincoln invented the idea of commander in chief, as neither the Constitution nor existing
legislation specified how the president ought to declare war or dictate strategy. In fact, by assuming the powers we associate
with the role of commander in chief, Lincoln often overstepped
the narrow band of rights granted the president. Good thing too, because his strategic insight and will to fight changed the
course of the war and saved the Union. Continued below...
For most of the conflict, he constantly
had to goad his reluctant generals toward battle, and he oversaw strategy and planning for major engagements with the enemy.
Lincoln
was a self-taught military strategist (as he was a self-taught lawyer), which makes his adroit conduct of the war seem almost
miraculous. To be sure, the Union’s campaigns often went awry, sometimes horribly so, but McPherson makes clear how
the missteps arose from the all-too-common moments when Lincoln could neither threaten nor cajole his commanders to follow
his orders. Because Lincoln’s war took place within
our borders, the relationship between the front lines and the home front was especially close—and volatile. Consequently,
Lincoln faced enormous challenges in exemplary fashion. He
was a masterly molder of public opinion, for instance, defining the war aims initially as preserving the Union and only later
as ending slavery— when he sensed the public was at last ready to bear such a lofty burden. As we approach the bicentennial
of Lincoln’s birth in 2009, this book will be that rarest
gift—a genuinely novel, even timely, view of the most-written-about figure in our history. Tried by War offers a revelatory
portrait of leadership during the greatest crisis our nation has ever endured. How Lincoln
overcame feckless generals, fickle public opinion, and his own paralyzing fears is a story at once suspenseful and inspiring.
Recommended
Reading: Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (944 pages) (Simon & Schuster).
Description: The life and times of Abraham Lincoln have been analyzed and dissected
in countless books. Do we need another Lincoln biography? In Team of Rivals, esteemed historian Doris Kearns Goodwin proves
that we do. Though she can't help but cover some familiar territory, her perspective is focused enough to offer fresh insights
into Lincoln's leadership style and his deep understanding of human behavior and motivation. Goodwin makes the case for Lincoln's
political genius by examining his relationships with three men he selected for his cabinet, all of whom were opponents for
the Republican nomination in 1860: William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, and Edward Bates. Continued below...
These men, all accomplished, nationally known, and presidential, originally disdained Lincoln for his backwoods
upbringing and lack of experience, and were shocked and humiliated at losing to this relatively obscure Illinois lawyer. Yet
Lincoln not only convinced them to join his administration--Seward as secretary of state, Chase as secretary of the treasury,
and Bates as attorney general--he ultimately gained their admiration and respect as well. How he soothed egos, turned rivals
into allies, and dealt with many challenges to his leadership, all for the sake of the greater good, is largely what Goodwin's
fine book is about. Had he not possessed the wisdom and confidence to select and work with the best people, she argues, he
could not have led the nation through one of its darkest periods. Ten years in the making,
this engaging work reveals why "Lincoln's road to success was longer, more tortuous, and far less likely" than the other men, and why,
when opportunity beckoned, Lincoln was "the best prepared
to answer the call." This multiple biography further provides valuable background and insights into the contributions and
talents of Seward, Chase, and Bates. Lincoln may have been "the indispensable ingredient of
the Civil War," but these three men were invaluable to Lincoln
and they played key roles in keeping the nation intact.
Advance to:
Recommended
Reading: Gettysburg: A Testing of Courage.
Description: America's Civil War raged for more than four years, but it is the three days of fighting
in the Pennsylvania countryside in July 1863 that continues
to fascinate, appall, and inspire new generations with its unparalleled saga of sacrifice and courage. From Chancellorsville,
where General Robert E. Lee launched his high-risk campaign into the North, to the Confederates' last daring and ultimately-doomed
act, forever known as Pickett's Charge, the battle of Gettysburg gave the Union army a victory that turned back the boldest
and perhaps greatest chance for a Southern nation. Continued
below...
Now, acclaimed
historian Noah Andre Trudeau brings the most up-to-date research available to a brilliant, sweeping, and comprehensive history
of the battle of Gettysburg that sheds fresh light on virtually every aspect of it. Deftly balancing his own
narrative style with revealing firsthand accounts, Trudeau brings this engrossing human tale to life as never before.
Recommended
Reading: The Real Lincoln: A New Look at
Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War. Description: It hardly
seems possible that there is more to say about someone who has been subjected to such minute scrutiny in thousands of books
and articles. Yet, Thomas J. DiLorenzo’s The Real Lincoln manages to
raise fresh and morally probing questions, challenging the image of the martyred 16th president that has been fashioned carefully
in marble and bronze, sentimentalism and myth. In doing so, DiLorenzo does not follow the lead of M. E. Bradford or other
Southern agrarians. Continued below...
He writes primarily not as a defender of the Old South and its institutions, culture, and traditions, but
as a libertarian enemy of the Leviathan state. DiLorenzo holds Lincoln and his war responsible for the triumph of "big government" and the birth of the
ubiquitous, suffocating modern U.S. state.
He seeks to replace the nation’s memory of Lincoln as the “Great Emancipator”
with the record of Lincoln as the “Great Centralizer.”
Recommended Reading:
Lincoln Unmasked: What You're Not Supposed to Know About Dishonest Abe. Description: While many view our 16th president as the nation’s greatest
president and hero, Tom Dilorenzo, The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an
Unnecessary War, through his scholarly research, exposes the many unconstitutional decisions of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln Unmasked, a best-seller, reveals that ‘other side’ – the inglorious character
– of the nation’s greatest tyrant and totalitarian. A controversial book that is hailed by many and
harshly criticized by others, Lincoln Unmasked, nevertheless, is a thought-provoking study and view of Lincoln that was not taught in our public school system. (Also available
in hardcover: Lincoln Unmasked: What You're Not Supposed to Know About Dishonest
Abe .)
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