Different Versions Of Gettysburg Address-THE SPEECH !

muzzleloader · #1 01-10-2007, 01:55 AM

Correct me if wrong, but it appears to me that these two versions are slightly different- if someone could paste whole text in a following post, we would apprecite it. The question is which version is the actual one. I consider this one of the top American speechs ever given by a leader of America. It is almost divine in its eloquence.
The phrase "This we may, in all propriety do " differs the two.

http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/gettysburg.shtml

http://showcase.netins.net/web/creat...gettysburg.htm

samgrant · #2 01-10-2007, 08:12 AM

Looks like the second version was made to more conform with modern day grammar. ???

ole · #3 01-10-2007, 10:33 AM

Muzzleloader: Been a while since you've visited. Welcome back.

Took a quick flutter through a book, "Lincoln at Gettysburg," by Gary Wills. Reached no particular conclusion other than several people asked Lincoln for a copy after he gave the speech. (Seems a bit irreverant to call it simply a "speech," doesn't it?) He wrote out his speech, each varied slightly from what is purported to be what he actually said; hence, the Bliss Copy, the Wills Copy, the Hays Text, Everett Copy, Baltimore Fair Texts, etc. In addition, there were four known newspaper copyists present.

The words: "This we may, in all propriety do." do not appear in the Garry Wills book (at least, not that my flutter showed). Upshot? I have nothing to add at this time but to muddy the water a bit. Sorry 'bout that.

Ole

samgrant · #4 01-10-2007, 06:12 PM

The Bliss Copy has been the source for most facsimile reproductions of the Gettysburg Address, because Lincoln provided a title and signed and dated this copy.

http://www.papersofabrahamlincoln.or...%20Address.htm

In David Donald's Lincoln, Donald explains that he uses the Bliss copy "which represents Lincoln's final revision of the address".

See also (The five manuscripts):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Address