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Lincolns Gettysburg address perfectly expresses why he deems the war to be so important in American history, and why it should always be remembered. Without the war, America would still be divided and slavery would still exist as of today. The Civil War ultimately brought a broken country together once again—and not just as the “north” and “south” but as The United States of America. A long, blood-filled war that killed more people than necessary, not only abolished the long debate of the concept of whether slavery should acceptable or not, but also proved that a country could exist as one whole despite any differences, objections to majority rule, or the unpopularity of a winner of an election; if that were not true, then democracy could never really work in a government. Of course, the war helped reshape the country into what we have today—a strong, independent nation that has learned from past mistakes, and will continue to learn.
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Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
November 19, 1863 "On June 1, 1865, Senator Charles Sumner referred to the most famous speech ever given by President Abraham Lincoln. In his eulogy on the slain president, he called the Gettysburg Address a "monumental act." He said Lincoln was mistaken that "the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here." Rather, the Bostonian remarked, "The world noted at once what he said, and will never cease to remember it. The battle itself was less important than the speech." There are five known copies of the speech in Lincoln's handwriting, each with a slightly different text, and named for the people who first received them: Nicolay, Hay, Everett, Bancroft and Bliss. Two copies apparently were written before delivering the speech, one of which probably was the reading copy. The remaining ones were produced months later for soldier benefit events. Despite widely-circulated stories to the contrary, the president did not dash off a copy aboard a train to Gettysburg. Lincoln carefully prepared his major speeches in advance; his steady, even script in every manuscript is consistent with a firm writing surface, not the notoriously bumpy Civil War-era trains. Additional versions of the speech appeared in newspapers of the era, feeding modern-day confusion about the authoritative text." To read the Gettysburg Address, click the button here: |