Data Bases
Custom Term Papers
Free Term Papers
Free Research Papers
Free Essays
Free Book Reports
Plagiarism?
Links
Top 100 Term Paper Sites
Top 25 Essay Sites
Top 50 Essay Sites
Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com
Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com
Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com
Free Essays
Term Paper Sites
Chuck III's Free Essays
Free College Essays
TermPaperSites.com
My Term Papers
Get Free Essays
Essay World
Planet Papers
Search Lots of Essays
Back to Subjects
-
Mythology
None Provided7
None Provided7 Of the five known manuscript copies of the Gettysburg Address, the Library of Congress has two. President Lincoln gave one of these to each of his two private secretaries, John Nicolay and John Hay. The copy on exhibit, which belonged to Nicolay, is often called the "first draft" because it is believed to be the earliest copy that exists. Considerable scholarly debate continues about whether the Nicolay copy is the "reading" copy. In 1894 Nicolay wrote that Lincoln had brought with him the first part of the speech, written in ink on Executive Mansion stationery, and that he had written the second page in pencil on lined paper before the dedication on November 19, 1863. Matching folds are still evident on the two pages shown here, suggesting it could be the copy that eyewitnesses say Lincoln took from his coat pocket and read at the ceremony. However, one of the arguments supporting the contrary theory that the delivery text has been lost is that some of the words and phrases of the Nicolay copy do not match contemporaneous accounts. The words "under God," for example, are missing from the phrase "that this nation [under God] shall have a new birth of freedom...." In order for the Nicolay draft to have been the reading copy, Lincoln uncharacteristically would have had to depart from his written text in several instances. This copy of the Gettysburg Address remained in John Nicolay's possession until his death in 1901, when it passed to his friend and colleague John Hay. Bibliography:
Word Count: 254
Copyright © 2005
College Term Papers
, INC All Rights Reserved.