Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address: Commemorative Papers, and: Lincoln's Gettysburg Declaration: "A New Birth of Freedom." (review)

BOOK REVIEWS297 Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address: Commemorative Papers. Edited by Allan Nevins. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1964. Pp. iv, 133. $2.95.) Lincoln's Gettysburg Declaration: "A New Birth of Freedom." By Louis A. Warren (Fort Wayne: Lincoln National Life Foundation, 1964. Pp. xix, 236. $5.95.) These two books are alike as to title only. The first is the product of an evening program, commemorating the Gettysburg Address, held in Washington, D.C., in December of 1963 and sponsored by the United States Civil War Centennial Commission. Six well-known Americans made contributions to the program. John Dos Passos dealt more with Lincoln's early life than with the address; he expressed the hope that Lincoln's faith would be regenerated so that we would achieve "the aspirations of individual men for a full life." Arthur Lehman Goodhart, legal scholar, presented a paper entitled "Lincoln and the Law"—it was out of place in a session devoted to the Gettysburg Address. Goodhart credited Lincoln's devotion to equality and equity to his legal background. 4To Lincoln, such words as democracy, equality, and freedom were meaningless," wrote Mr. Goodhart, "unless they were a Irving truth." Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr dealt with Lincoln's religion, mentioning the Gettysburg Address only in passing. Dr. Niebuhr concluded that "Lincoln's religious convictions were superior in depth and purity to those, not only of the political leaders of his day, but of the religious leaders of the era." Robert Lowell, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet contributed two brief original poems (unrelated to the centennial theme) and a fourth-rate, two-page analysis of the poetic elements in Lincoln's prose. U.S. Senator Paul Douglas supposedly dealt with the significance of the battle of Gettysburg . The senator, however, turned to post-Civil War history and wrote a plea for the extension of dvil rights. His analogies were fanciful, his discourse rambling. David G Mearas, the only historian in the lot, geared his essay for the populace rather than posterity. He cast doubt upon the sources previously relied upon to tell the Lincoln-at-Gettysburg story. He discredited such "authorities" as Noah Brooks, Ward H. Lamon, and Andrew Carnegie—suggesting the need to start "from scratch." Allan Nevins contributed an introduction in which he placed Lincoln on a pedestal and worshipped at his feet None of the essays make a significant contribution to the Lincoln literature . Most were not worth publishing. The reviewer, disappointed with the book, views it as an opportunity lost. Carpenters should not try to do the work of architects. Dr. Warren's well-researched work belongs in a class by itself. As a manuscript it won "runner-up" honors in a contest inviting authors to submit historical or nonfictional subjects relating to the Civil War period; more than 170 manuscripts contended for top honors. Dr. Warren, who heads the list of Lincoln scholars, studied books, documents, newspapers, manu- 298CIVIL WAB HISTOBY scripts, and other materials to separate myth from reality and bring out the definitive account of the origin and delivery of the Gettysburg Address. Warren contends that three factors affected the formulation of the address and shaped the thoughts embodied therein: (a) Lincoln's life-long practice of preparing speeches and briefs; (b) his belief in the equality of men (expressed in the Emancipation Proclamation earlier in the year); and (c) the spirit of patriotism—greatly stimulated by the July 4 memories associated with the place where he was to speak. The nineteen chapters cover 183 pages of text. The first eight are devoted to events or topics preceding the program of November 1T, 1863. Six deal with topics of the day of the address, and the other five could be labeled "aftermath." The fifteenth chapter, entitled "Press Reaction," indicates the extent of Dr. Warren's research. The eighteenth chapter is a compilation of what famous people, from Charles Francis Adams to Franklin D. Roosevelt, have said about the immortal address. Two chapters trace the history of each of the five Gettysburg Address holographs. Edward Everett's oration is included in an appendix and Dr. Warren lists the 201 sources upon which the study is based. The author draws judicious...