On November 2, 1863, Gettysburg lawyer David Wills invited President Abraham Lincoln to dedicate a new military cemetery on November 19, requesting “a few appropriate remarks.” Despite his heavy workload, Lincoln agreed, aiming to honor fallen soldiers and explain why the Union cause was worth fighting for. These remarks would become the iconic Gettysburg Address, still resonating globally.
Details of the Address’s creation are somewhat obscured. Lincoln began drafting in Washington, writing opening lines in ink on Executive Mansion stationery. He referenced the Declaration of Independence, noting the nation was “conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that ‘all men are created equal,’” now tested by civil war.
The second page, possibly drafted later or altered after a battlefield tour, was written in pencil on ordinary paper. Lincoln called for Americans to honor those who gave their “last full measure of devotion” by completing the war’s “unfinished work.” He urged a “new birth of freedom” and that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” During delivery, he further amended it to include “under God.”
The Library of Congress holds two handwritten copies of the Gettysburg Address. Its roughly 270 words continue to remind us of the nation’s founding ideals, the unfinished nature of its experiment, and the ongoing dedication required from each generation to preserve its democratic principles. This historical insight is shared by Michelle Krowl, a historian in the Manuscript Division, and appears in the May/June issue of the Library of Congress Magazine, celebrating the nation’s 250th birthday.