The Gettysburg Address: Perspectives on Lincoln's Greatest Speech

369 Pages·2015·4.54 MB·English

by  Sean Conant

The Gettysburg Address

The Gettysburg
Address
Perspectives on Lincoln’s
Greatest Speech
z
Edited by
SEAN CONANT
Foreword by
HAROLD HOLZER
1
1
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide.
Oxford New York
Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi
Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi
New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto
With offices in
Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece
Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore
South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam
Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press
in the UK and certain other countries.
Published in the United States of America by
Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
© Sean Conant 2015
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior
permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law,
by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization.
Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights
Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above.
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The Gettysburg Address : Perspectives on Lincoln’s Greatest Speech / edited by
Sean Conant ; foreword by Harold Holzer.
      p. cm.
 Includes bibliographical references and index.
 ISBN 978–0–19–022745–6 (paperback) — ISBN 978–0–19–022744–9 (hardcover)  
1.  Lincoln, Abraham, 1809–1865. Gettysburg address.  I. Conant, Sean.
 E475.55.G36 2015
 973.7’349—dc23
                                                           2014042814
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
sean conant
Foreword ix
harold holzer
Part I: Influences
1. Classical Democracy and the Gettysburg Address 3
nicholas p. cole
2. “We Here Highly Resolve”: The End of Compromise and
the Return to Revolutionary Time 24
robert pierce forbes
3. Democracy at Gettysburg 51
sean wilentz
4. Daniel Webster, Abraham Lincoln, and the Gettysburg
Address 72
craig l. symonds
5. “Of all, by all, for all”: Theodore Parker, Transcendentalism,
and the Gettysburg Address 88
dean grodzins
6. Death and the Gettysburg Address 107
mark s. schantz
7. Shared Suffering and the Way to Gettysburg 126
chandra manning
00-Conant-Prelims.indd 5 20/03/15 5:08 PM
vi Contents
8. Little Note, Long Remember: Lincoln and the Murk of Myth
at Gettysburg 147
allen c. guelzo
PART II: Impacts
9. “A New Birth of Freedom”: Emancipation and the Gettysburg
Address 175
louis p. masur
10. “The Great Task Remaining Before Us”: Lincoln
and Reconstruction 191
george rutherglen
11. Immigration and the Gettysburg Address: Nationalism
and Equality at the Gates 211
alison clark efford
12. Engendering the Gettysburg Address: Its Meaning for
Women 233
jean h. baker
13. The Gettysburg Address and Civil Rights 252
raymond arsenault
14. Widely Noted and Long Remembered: The Gettysburg Address
Around the World 274
don h. doyle
15. The Search for Meaning in Lincoln’s Great Oration 300
thomas a. desjardin
Appendix: The Five Copies of the Gettysburg Address 321
Contributors 333
Index 339
Acknowledgments
my work on this volume has enriched my understanding of the themes
tackled in The Gettysburg Address film—a multi-year production examin-
ing the influences for and impacts of Lincoln’s greatest speech. I hope this
collection of essays has a similar effect on the reader. To that end, thank you
to my contributors for their unique perspectives and outstanding efforts.
Thank you also to Gabor Boritt, Eric Foner, Harold Holzer, Martin
P. Johnson, Jim McPherson, Jim Oakes, Mark Summers, and Doug
Wilson for their efforts and encouragement along the way.
Thank you to the keepers of the five Gettysburg Address copies and to
my friends and acquaintances from the institutions where they repose: Mi-
chelle Krowl of the Library of Congress, James Cornelius of the Abraham
Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Katherine Reagan of the Carl
A. Kroch Library at Cornell University, and William Allman of the White
House Office of the Curator. Thanks to their support I had the privilege of
intimately examining all copies of the Address for the film and this volume.
The faithful transcriptions herein are but one result of those memorable
experiences.
As a descendent of Oxford University Vice-Chancellor Rev. John
Conant (1608–1694), it is especially meaningful to me to publish this
volume with Oxford University Press, who I thank for the opportunity.
At Oxford, thank you to Tim Bent and his assistants, Keely Latcham and
Alyssa O’Connell, for shepherding the project through the publishing
process.
Thank you to my friends and family. For years this work has consumed
me, and still they remain present and supportive always.
Lastly, thank you to the soldiers, both here and gone, and to Abraham
Lincoln—whose sacrifice and language, respectively, I honor and admire.
Sean Conant

Foreword
november 19 is a sacred day at Gettysburg. The village welcomes what
seems to be its entire population—along with hundreds of out-of-town
visitors—for the annual commemoration of Abraham Lincoln’s greatest
speech. Each and every November 19, a solemn celebration takes place
inside the town’s eternally haunting Soldiers’ cemetery. The great Lincoln
reenactor James Getty dons frock coat and stovepipe hat to intone the Ad-
dress impeccably. Prayers are invoked. A local baritone sings “The Battle
Hymn of the Republic.” The ceremony is as predictable and comforting
as a religious service. Only the “sermon” changes. For generations, as
historian Thomas Desjardin points out in his essay for this book, lead-
ing American orators have journeyed here on the anniversary of the Get-
tysburg Address to try providing the definitive appreciation of the most
famous speech in American history by offering one of their own.
Inevitably most fall somewhat short in comparison. After all, how can
anyone approach the sublime mastery of Lincoln’s original? How can
anyone express the full essence of the Gettysburg Address, when scholars
have variously traced its origins and inspirations—as other contributors
to this book will remind us—to everything from classical oratory (Nicho-
las Cole) to native democratic ideals (Sean Wilentz), to reigning political
eloquence (Craig Symonds) to American philosophical originality (Dean
Grodzins) and to the unavoidable pall of wartime death and suffering
(Chandra Manning, Mark Schantz). So many roots to trace; so many in-
spirations to consider. It is no wonder that while scores of latter-day Get-
tysburg orators have tried, they have usually less than overwhelmed the
vast audiences that reliably attend these yearly events in the eternal hope
of hearing another immortal Gettysburg Address. Yet still they come, the
crowds and the guest speakers alike. Of course, it took Abraham Lincoln
three tries to get it right himself.