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Writing the Gettysburg Address
Four score and seven years ago . . . .
Are any six words better known, of greater import, or from a more crucial moment in our nation's history? And yet after 150 years the dramatic and surprising story of how Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg Address has never been fully told. Until now.
Martin Johnson's remarkable work of historical and literary detection illuminates a speech, a man, and a moment in history that we thought we knew. Johnson guides readers on Lincoln's emotional and intellectual journey to the speaker's platform, revealing that Lincoln himself experienced writing the Gettysburg Address as an eventful process that was filled with the possibility of failure, but which he knew resulted finally in success beyond expectation.
We listen as Lincoln talks with the cemetery designer about the ideals and aspirations behind the unprecedented cemetery project, look over Lincoln's shoulder as he rethinks and rewrites his speech on the very morning of the ceremony, and share his anxiety that he might not live up to the occasion. And then, at last, we stand with Lincoln at Gettysburg, when he created the words and image of an enduring and authentic legend.
Writing the Gettysburg Address resolves the puzzles and problems that have shrouded the composition of Lincoln's most admired speech in mystery for fifteen decades. Johnson shows when Lincoln first started his speech, reveals the state of the document Lincoln brought to Gettysburg, traces the origin of the false story that Lincoln wrote his speech on the train, identifies the manuscript Lincoln held while speaking, and presents a new method for deciding what Lincoln's audience actually heard him say.
Ultimately, Johnson shows that the Gettysburg Address was a speech that grew and changed with each step of Lincoln's eventful journey to the podium. His two-minute speech made the battlefield and the cemetery into landmarks of the American imagination, but it was Lincoln's own journey to Gettysburg that made the Gettysburg Address.
Are any six words better known, of greater import, or from a more crucial moment in our nation's history? And yet after 150 years the dramatic and surprising story of how Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg Address has never been fully told. Until now.
Martin Johnson's remarkable work of historical and literary detection illuminates a speech, a man, and a moment in history that we thought we knew. Johnson guides readers on Lincoln's emotional and intellectual journey to the speaker's platform, revealing that Lincoln himself experienced writing the Gettysburg Address as an eventful process that was filled with the possibility of failure, but which he knew resulted finally in success beyond expectation.
We listen as Lincoln talks with the cemetery designer about the ideals and aspirations behind the unprecedented cemetery project, look over Lincoln's shoulder as he rethinks and rewrites his speech on the very morning of the ceremony, and share his anxiety that he might not live up to the occasion. And then, at last, we stand with Lincoln at Gettysburg, when he created the words and image of an enduring and authentic legend.
Writing the Gettysburg Address resolves the puzzles and problems that have shrouded the composition of Lincoln's most admired speech in mystery for fifteen decades. Johnson shows when Lincoln first started his speech, reveals the state of the document Lincoln brought to Gettysburg, traces the origin of the false story that Lincoln wrote his speech on the train, identifies the manuscript Lincoln held while speaking, and presents a new method for deciding what Lincoln's audience actually heard him say.
Ultimately, Johnson shows that the Gettysburg Address was a speech that grew and changed with each step of Lincoln's eventful journey to the podium. His two-minute speech made the battlefield and the cemetery into landmarks of the American imagination, but it was Lincoln's own journey to Gettysburg that made the Gettysburg Address.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published October 8, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 10, 2018
Lincoln's journey as an author and speaker towards the Gettysburg Address is almost as amazing as the speech itself. A great companion to Lincoln at Gettysburg by Garry Wills!
January 16, 2014
A wonderfully interesting and detailed look at the composition, delivery, and after-the-speech life of this greatest American speech; Johnson has done a great job comparing and contrasting the various versions, and his detailed research has, I believe, solved some major and minor mysteries about it. At times I was reminded of the Biblical research into the "Q" document that 'Luke' and 'Matthew' used, along with 'Mark,' to write their gospels, since there's a lot of inference to be done. Some may object to the minutae of detail, but I found it fascinating, and another precious glimpse into the mind of Lincoln.
August 27, 2017
Sifting through an abundance of clues and seeing there much that had been long overlooked Johnson delivers a cogent and decisive - authoritative - account of Lincoln's crafting the Gettysburg Address and the influences that shaped the text through many revisions. Sorting myth from reality Johnson exposes the core of the address and how it connects to the core of a new birth of freedom.
October 2, 2016
A really illuminating book. Johnson does a masterful job here of digging deeply into the composition of the Gettysburg Address, not just to satisfy the historical record but to explore how exactly the way Lincoln wrote the speech--everything from the type of paper he used and where Lincoln wrote various sections to whom he consulted during the writing and the publication history of the speech following its delivery--affected what Lincoln actually said in this most transformative of American moments.
June 19, 2014
Excellent overview of the compositional history of the Gettysburg Address. I already, long ago, rejected most the myths, like the "on the train," but I had no firm idea of how the various manuscripts today related to one another in order of composition and editing.
Along with this, Johnson shows how a visit to the battlefield greatly enhanced the language of the final one-third. A visit with Seward the night before probably provided a bit of help in that last one third.
We know this because, as Johnson shows, up until the time he got to Gettysburg, the version of the address he brought with him did not have the fifth "dedicated," but rather said, "It is for us, the living, rather, to stand here ..., " which is certainly weaker than what we actually have.
Johnson also shows exactly how what Lincoln spoke differed from the written draft Lincoln had with him at the podium. Again, the last 1/3 shows no changes in the first 1/3, a fair amount in the middle, and even more at the end. The AP noted 1 early, 2 middle and 3 late interruptions for applause. It appears that Lincoln, while he generally did not like to speak extemporaneously, did somewhat go with the emotional flow here.
A must read for Lincoln buffs.
Along with this, Johnson shows how a visit to the battlefield greatly enhanced the language of the final one-third. A visit with Seward the night before probably provided a bit of help in that last one third.
We know this because, as Johnson shows, up until the time he got to Gettysburg, the version of the address he brought with him did not have the fifth "dedicated," but rather said, "It is for us, the living, rather, to stand here ..., " which is certainly weaker than what we actually have.
Johnson also shows exactly how what Lincoln spoke differed from the written draft Lincoln had with him at the podium. Again, the last 1/3 shows no changes in the first 1/3, a fair amount in the middle, and even more at the end. The AP noted 1 early, 2 middle and 3 late interruptions for applause. It appears that Lincoln, while he generally did not like to speak extemporaneously, did somewhat go with the emotional flow here.
A must read for Lincoln buffs.
May 3, 2014
This book dispels popular myth that Lincoln scribbled the Gettysburg Address on the fly while jostling along by train to the dedication event. Actually, he basically composed it at the White House the evening before leaving. What he read on the podium was slightly edited White House first page and a second penciled page written after arrival in Gettysburg. Author traces Lincoln's thought processes, how he adapted a phrase from one of his previous speeches ("Eighty-odd years [ago] a union body of representatives assembled to declare as a self-evident truth that all men were created equal") and another from Daniel Webster ("government of the people, by the people, and for the people ...." ) to advance the dramatic rhetorical cadence for his "few appropriate remarks." Likely few people heard it as it was delivered (no amplifier system then) so the Address gained iconic status via reprinting (penultimate chapter contains exhaustive analysis of minor wording variations and comma placements). Overall, this is an engaging and highly readable examination of the famous "remarks" and dedication event.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews