Talk:Gettysburg Address

As a newbie image uploader, I've been struggling a bit. I hope I can get up the full set of Rev. Parker sermon pages that Herndon gave to Lincoln, from 4 July 1858.

Wikipedia main pages are not the place for the following, but I think it appropriate here to note that the very close phrasing in Rev. Parker's second formulation - "the institutions of America - Direct government, - over all the people, by all the people, for all the people" - to Lincoln's Gettysburg phrasing "government of the people, by the people, for the people", indicates that Rev. Parker's second phrasing was in fact the direct inspiration for Lincoln's words. Lincoln merely cut "all" and changed "over" to "of," but otherwise left the order intact.

Herndon in his report snagged on Rev. Parker's first phrasing - which has a different order, "over all the people, for all the people, by all the people" - and thus Herndon missed Rev. Parker's second, later phrasing of the same point; and this difference has opened the scholarly field for other options than Rev. Parker's sermon, as being Lincoln's direct inspiration.

I note that Rev. Parker died on May 10, 1860, in Italy (where he had gone for his health) and thus was not alive in late 1863 to claim credit for being the inspiration for Lincoln's phrasing. Since 1845, he had been pastor of the 28th Congregational Society of Boston, meeting at the Boston Music Hall, which was the site of the July 4, 1858 sermon.

The pandemic, combined with my advanced age, has kept me away from Cemetery Hill for 16 months, but recently, I detected that the NPS had replaced a critical Address-related marker. Today, I visited, surveyed, and photographed all of the Address-related signage in and near the National Cemetery.

The NPS's first attempt to point attention into Evergreen Cemetery was highly flawed, and I (virtually) mocked the flaw within the Wikipedia article. "To your left" was the flaw, but the new marker in the same location corrects the flaw and contains a vital bit of information - the platform location was never marked from the start.

This omission by the carpenters and/or millwrights who erected and removed the platform and by the administrators of Evergreen Cemetery necessitates (I.M.O.) a long-winded section for 'Platform Location.' Furthermore today, it necessitates a significant revision of this section.

Even though I inserted this section in the first place, I have never been completely satisfied with it and have placed my faith in editors to improve it. Over the next few weeks, I will take another shot, but please work with me. You are welcome to contact me at donaldecoho@comcast.net

There are a few things that an editor cannot add to the article, but I will mention them here. I am acquainted with both William Frassanito and Brian Kennell.

"Frazz" is frequently available in the Reliance Mine Saloon, and I have shared brews with and quizzed Frazz. He knows, I have attempted to reproduce his photographic analysis using 3D/GPS surveying techniques, typical of my engineering background. One angle, I have confirmed; the second angle (from the Gatehouse outward) is almost impossible for me to reproduce. Also, Frazz has advised revisions to the section, which I have respected.

Kennell tells me, but has not published, his complete dismissal of the Harrison site at the Brown family mausoleum. He intimates, the location of the Brown vault was known as the 'Rocky Center' in 1863.

In other words, it was a stack of granite boulders and could not possibly host the platform. One of my images (Gaddress location summary.jpg) confirms his oral history (by independent confirmation, rather than by conspiracy or collusion).

Maybe, there's one more thing I should mention. One image (Gaddress frassanito.jpg) was taken with my feet firmly planted on my own grave. You see, I am obsessive about Abraham Lincoln.

In the caption to the photo by Timothy H. O'Sullivan, the word "laying" should be "lying". 2601:204:F181:9410:DD4B:C4DA:176C:3012 (talk) 13:16, 12 June 2025 (UTC)

For the .ogg file, in addition to the sound file itself the misformatted file name is showing up in the article. Any idea how to prevent that from happening? The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 17:48, 2 September 2025 (UTC)

Bliss copy indicates a 272 word count, not 271. 272 seems the most authoritative and accepted value. ~2025-34787-87 (talk) 12:25, 19 November 2025 (UTC)

I have come to the same conclusion. Connor Ferrick (talk) 00:43, 6 January 2026 (UTC)