Gettysburg Replies

The World Responds to Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

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• Publisher: Lyons Press
• Year: 2015
• eBook ISBN: 9781493017669
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: American Civil War History
• Index: History

Almost five months after the Civil War’s deadliest clash, President Abraham Lincoln and other Union leaders gathered to dedicate the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The program for the occasion featured music, prayer, orations, and benedictions. In the middle of it all, the president gave a few commemorative remarks, speaking for just two minutes, delivering what we now know as the Gettysburg Address.

Challenged to mark the enormity of the battle—which had turned the tide of the war, though neither side realized it yet—Lincoln used 272 words in ten sentences to rededicate the Union to the preservation of freedom. It remains the most important statement of our nation’s commitment to personal liberty since the Revolutionary War and has become one of the most important speeches in American history, a cornerstone of who we are as a country. A century and a half later, we still hold Lincoln’s message in our hearts.

For Gettysburg Replies, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum challenged presidents, judges, historians, filmmakers, poets, actors, and others to craft 272 words of their own to celebrate Lincoln, the Gettysburg Address, or a related topic that stirs their passions. President Jimmy Carter reveals how the Gettysburg Address helped bring Egypt and Israel closer at the Camp David Peace Accords. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor reflects on Lincoln’s dedication to the importance of civic education. General Colin Powell explains how Martin Luther King Jr. took up Lincoln’s mantle and carried it forward. Filmmaker Steven Spielberg touches on the benefits and perils of hero worship. Poet Laureate Billy Collins explores the dichotomy between the private man who wrote poetry (“My Childhood Home I See Again”) and the president who stood before all. Attorney Alan Dershowitz echoes Lincoln’s words to rally us to the freedom from weapons of mass destruction.

Gettysburg Replies features images of important Lincoln documents and artifacts, including the first copy of the address that Lincoln wrote out after delivering it, the program from the cemetery dedication, Lincoln’s presidential seal, and more. Together, these words and images create a lasting tribute not only to Lincoln himself but also the power of his devotion to freedom.

Table of contents

• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Preface, Carla Knorowski, Ph.D
• Introduction: A Nation “at Risk”—Lincoln’s World and Ours, James M. Cornelius, Ph.D
• Walking with Lincoln by Tom Amandes
• Lincoln and Eureka College by J. David Arnold
• Greater Efforts, Grander Victories by Julian Bond
• The Gettysburg Story by Jake Boritt
• A Common Path Taken by John Borling
• On the Occasion of the Great Leaving by Robert Bray
• The Dark Horse Candidate by Edward M. Burke
• The Business of Words by Ken Burns
• The Gettysburg Address: Rewriting America’s Foundational Narrative by William D. Burns
• Truth by President George H. W. Bush
• A Powerful Reminder by President George W. Bush
• The Long March by Amy Carlson
• Gettysburg Address by President Jimmy Carter
• Out Struggle Was Their Struggle by Richard Carwardine
• Rebuild Together by President Bill Clinton
• One Thousand Five Hundred and Seventy Days by Catherine Clinton
• On A Poem by Lincoln: “My Childhood Home I See Again” by Billy Collins
• Lincoln’s World Language by James M. Cornelius
• A New Nation by Jeremy T. Crandall
• The Concept of Accountability by Keith David
• Unfinished Work by Alan M. Dershowitz
• I Am a Foreigner by Danian C. Douglas
• Overalls by Richard H. Driehaus
• Our Greatest Treasure by Tammy Duckworth
• Gettysburg: Rebirth of the Revolution by Dick Durbin
• A New American Anthem by Jason Emerson
• Lincoln in Memory and Mission by Richard W. Etulain
• The Unfinished Business of Slavery by Nicholas J. Evans
• Will America Sacrifice as It Did in the Civil War? by Guy C. Fraker
• Gettysburg Is Not Only in Pennsylvania by Nikki Giovanni
• What Would Mr. Lincoln Think? by Bill Goodman
• Equal Opportunity to Influence by Ginny Greer
• The Ennobling Universal Passion by Allen C. Guelzo
• Canvassing the Vote by Dan Guillory
• The Best Place on Earth by Samuel R. Harris
• Each Must Enlist by Gary R. Herbert
• Footsteps by Katherine Hitchcock
• Gettysburg Calls Us to Our Solemn Duty by Jackie Hogan
• Long Remembered by Harold Holzer
• Saying Much in Little by William Howarth
• No Greater Words by Sally Jewell
• History is a Cause by Gary T. Johnson
• Republicanism Renewed by Howard Jones
• Words to Music by John William Jones
• Clarity of Purpose by Kathleen Kennedy
• Lincoln Walking at Night by Amanda L. Kilpatrick
• “In God We Trust” by Carla Knorowski
• Mystery in the History of the Gettysburg Address by Michelle A. Krowl
• Photo Essay by Annie Leibovitz
• Four Score and Seven Lincolns by David H. Leroy
• A Look at a People by Caleb Lewis
• I Heard Lincoln Deliver the Gettysburg Address by Salvador Litvak
• Fallen Heroes by James Lovell
• Freedom: Given by God, Defended by Man by Allen J. Lynch
• Conceived in Liberty by Phillip W. Magness
• A Timeless Call to Action by Suzanne Malveaux
• Immigration to America by John F. Marszalek
• Lincoln’s World and Gettysburg by Robert E. May
• 150th Anniversary of the Gettysburg Address by Matthew H. Mead
• Learning From Lincoln by Michael Medved
• Transition in South Africa by Babalwa Mhlauli
• Democracy Persists by Richard Lawrence Miller
• Visions of Lincoln: A Century on Screen by Nell Minow
• More Information, Less Understanding by Newton N. Minow
• Reply by President Barack H. Obama
• Building on Lincoln’s Legacy by Douglas R. Oberhelman
• Abraham Lincoln and the Vital Importance of Civic Education by Sandra Day O’Connor
• Proud Disciples by Maureen Orth
• An Unfinished Masterpiece by Eboo Patel
• The Long Shadow of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address by Jared Peatman
• In the Throes of Democracy by Graham A. Peck
• Lincoln in the World by Kevin Peraino
• Remembering a Second Birth of Freedom by Matthew Pinsker
• Fate and Circumstance by Adam Pitluk
• The March Must Continue by Colin L. Powell
• The Will of the People by Patrick J. Quinn
• Finishing Their Work by Grace Richards
• A Continuing Obligation by J. Joe Ricketts
• 272 Words of Hope by Karen Roth
• Battlefields for Equal Justice by Nancy Rousseau
• The Promise of Greater Access by Eric Schmidt
• Hubris in 272 Words by Thomas F. Schwartz
• 10 Sentences, 4 Clauses by Pete Seeger
• Demand the Best by Judith Sheindlin
• A Time-Sensitive Document by Scott Simon
• The Unfinished Work Before Us by Brooks D. Simpson
• The Attractive Vision of a Better World by Steven Spielberg
• Genealogy Apology by Kevin Stein
• The Will of the People by Randall L. Stephenson
• The Global Meaning of the Gettysburg Address by Louise L. Stevenson
• Turn to Lincoln by Charles B. Strozier
• People Like to Eat by Evelyn Brandt Thomas with Karl Barnhart
• Lincoln’s Railroad by Robert W. Turner
• The Lincoln Seedbed by Neil DeGrasse Tyson
• Let’s Build a Civilization Based on Universal Values by Lech Walesa
• Let Their Lives Shine by Scott Walker
• An American Keystone by David Walser
• We Are the Benefactors of Change Agents by Robin White
• Words That Count by Robert S. Willard
• A Young Girl’s Advice by Karen B. Winnick
• Acknowledgments
• Photo Credits