Abraham Lincoln, "Nicolay Copy" of the Gettysburg Address, page 1, 1863

Abraham Lincoln, "Nicolay Copy" of the Gettysburg Address, page 1, 1863 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 rest- ing place for those who died here that nation might live. This we may, an all propriety do. 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. It is rather for us, we here be dedicated Author Abraham Lincoln Manuscript title "Nicolay Copy" of the Gettysburg Address, 1863 Note "This document represents the earliest known of the five drafts of what may be the most famous American speech. Delivered by President Abraham Lincoln in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, at the dedication of a memorial cemetery on November 19, 1863, it is now familiarly known as the “Gettysburg Address.” Drawing inspiration from his favorite historical document, the Declaration of Independence, Lincoln equated the catastrophic suffering caused by the Civil War with the efforts of the American people to live up to “the proposition that ’all men are created equal.’” This document is presumed to be the only working, or pre-delivery, draft and is commonly identified as the Nicolay Copy because it was once owned by John George Nicolay, Lincoln’s private secretary. The first page is on White House (then Executive Mansion) stationery, lending strong support to the theory that it was drafted in Washington, D.C. But the second page is on what has been loosely described as foolscap, suggesting that Lincoln was not fully satisfied with the final paragraph of the Address and rewrote that passage in Gettysburg, on November 19, while staying at the home of Judge David Wills." [1] Date 1863 Size x cm x xcm; x in x x in Penmanship Style Collection Abraham Lincoln. "Nicolay Copy" of the Gettysburg Address, 1863. Holograph manuscript. Page 1. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress Digital ID# al0186p1[2] File name Lincoln Abraham 18xx-001-001-0xx Links related to