Doc of the Day: Gettysburg Address
On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln gave a short speech (lasting no more than two minutes) at the commemoration of a cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where more than fifty-one thousand Union and Confederate soldiers had died in a battle lasting three days, from July 1 to 3, 1863. This historic battle ended General Robert E. Lee’s invasion of the North, but Lincoln chose to focus not on the Union victory but on the principles he believed the war had been fought over: liberty and equality as they had been defined in the Declaration of Independence. In a speech that is now considered the most eloquent ever delivered by an American president, he saw this battle and the war itself as leading toward a “new birth of freedom.”
At Gettysburg cemetery, where thousands of hastily buried men were being reinterred in proper graves, Lincoln’s task was no less than to remind the nation that its very existence was at stake, a cause for which hundreds of thousands of men were fighting and dying. Although his surprisingly brief speech seemed to have no immediate impact, and even Lincoln himself doubted the effectiveness of his address, the power of his concise and graceful prose gradually marked a turning point in public consciousness that confirmed Lincoln’s faith in the prospects of democracy. He redefined the war, making it an inspiring quest for liberty and equality.
Pingback by SchlagerBlog » Blog Archive » Gettysburg Address anniversary on 19 November 2008:
[...] of the address. Over at the Milestone Documents Blog, where the Gettysburg Address is the Doc of the Day, you can learn that the address took Lincoln only two minutes to deliver (not a surprise, given [...]
Comment by john on 4 December 2008:
Loyola Students Launch Interactive Website in Honor of Lincoln Bicentennial
CHICAGO— Loyola University Chicago journalism students are celebrating the 200th birthday of one of our country’s greatest presidents, Abraham Lincoln, by launching an interactive Website in his honor.
Students enrolled in Professor John Slania’s course, Lincoln and Citizen Journalism, are studying Lincoln in contemporary society and creating a Web magazine packed full of articles, photographs, recorded audio, video, blogs, and much more. The site can be found at http://www.luc.edu/orgs/lincolnatloyola.
“Journalism is shifting in a new direction. This is a wonderful opportunity for students who want to go into journalism, as well as many others fields, to get experience by reporting, writing and telling stories on multiple platforms,” Slania said.
Organized as a newsroom within the classroom, the students act as an actual media center. They record living history and document Lincoln’s impact on America today while creating a compelling Web magazine that captures the essence of this famous president.
The students hope to learn the history and importance of our country’s 16th president and share their findings as a contribution for Illinois’ statewide Lincoln Bicentennial celebration.
This class is just one of many courses, presentations, speeches and lectures at Loyola in celebrations of the Bicentennial. Loyola is marking the event with a February 11, appearance of Pulitzer Prize winning author, Doris Kearns Goodwin presenting a lecture on “Lincoln and Leadership.”
For additional information, contact John Slania, Journalism Program Director, at jslania@luc.edu.
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