The Gettysburg Addresses
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Index of texts
Bibliographic Information
The Gettysburg Addresses
Original Source
Based on transcriptions from the Gettysburg Foundation and the House Divided Project of Dickinson College.
Witness List
- Witness bliss: The copy of the Gettysburg Address prepared by Lincoln for Col. Alexander Bliss in March 1864, used here as the base text.
- Witness nicolay: Named for Lincoln's presidential aid John Nicolay, this copy is usually considered the first draft of address Lincoln delivered on November 19, 1863.
- Witness hay: Named for Lincoln's presidential aid John Hay, this copy most closely matches the text reported in newspaper accounts of the address that Lincoln delivererd on November 19, 1863, but seems unlikely to be the reading text because it is not folded.
- Witness bancroft: Copy produced for historian George Bancroft, intended to be sold for a sanitary fair in Baltimore, from early 1864.
- Witness everett: Copy produced for Sen. Edward Everett (who also spoke at Gettysburg), from February 1864, intended to be sold as a fundraiser for the Metropolitan Sanitary Fair.
Electronic Edition Information:
Publication Details:
Created by students in ENGL 340 S15 at SUNY Geneseo.
Witness
Four score
and seven years ago our fathers brought forth,
upon
this continent, a new nation, conceived in
Liberty,
and dedicated to the proposition that
all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated,
can long endure.
We are met
on a great
battle-field
of that war.
We
have come
to dedicate a portion of
that field,
as
the
final
resting-place
for
those who
who here gave their lives,
that that nation might live.
It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
c
Critical note: In the Nicolay copy, this sentence ends the second paragraph of three. In Bancroft and Hay, it begins the third paragraph
of three. In Bliss and Everett, it stands alone as the third paragraph of four.
But,
in a larger
sense,
we can not
dedicate,
we can not consecrate--we can not
hallow--
this
ground.
The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have
consecrated
it
far above our
poor
power to add or detract.
The world will little note, nor long
remember
what we say
here,
but it
can never forget what they did here.
c
Critical note: This sentence does not appear in the Nicolay copy. In Everett and Bliss, it is the first paragraph of the fourth paragraph.
In Bancroft and Hay, it is in the third of three paragraphs.
It is for us, the living,
rather, to be dedicated here
to the unfinished work
which they who fought here, have
thus far,
so nobly advanced.
It is
rather for us
rather for us
to be here
dedicated to the great task remaining before
us--
that
from these honored dead we take increased devotion to
that
cause for which they
here gave
the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in
vain--
that
this nation,
under God,
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.
Witness
Four score
and seven years ago our fathers brought forth,
upon
this continent, a new nation, conceived in
liberty,
and dedicated to the proposition that
"all men are created equal."
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated,
can long endure.
We are met
on a great
battle field
of that war.
We
have come
to dedicate a portion of
it
as
a
final
resting place
for
those who
died here
that that nation might live.
This we may, in all propriety do.
c
Critical note: In the Nicolay copy, this sentence ends the second paragraph of three. In Bancroft and Hay, it begins the third paragraph
of three. In Bliss and Everett, it stands alone as the third paragraph of four.
But,
in a larger
sense,
we can not
dedicate--
we can not consecrate--we can not
hallow,
this
ground--
The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have
hallowed
it,
far above our
poor
power to add or detract.
The world will little note, nor long
remember,
what we say
here;
while it
can never forget what they did here.
c
to stand herewe be here
dedicated to the great task remaining before
us--
that,
from these honored dead we take increased devotion to
that
cause for which they
here, gave
the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in
vain;
that
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.
Critical note: This sentence does not appear in the Nicolay copy. In Everett and Bliss, it is the first paragraph of the fourth paragraph.
In Bancroft and Hay, it is in the third of three paragraphs.
It is
for us, the living,