Lincoln's Gettysburg Address *Please note: This workshop is currently full. To join a waiting list or for more information please contact Caryn Koplik (919) 406-0111, or ckoplik@nationalhumanitiescenter.org.

Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 Time: 7:00-8:30 p.m. (EST) Registration Deadline: October 2, 2009

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In a speech that lasted barely three minutes but that has since become a touchstone of American democracy, Abraham Lincoln spoke at the site of a decisive battle in which nearly 8,000 Confederate and Union soldiers had been killed and more than 30,000 wounded. Why has the "Gettysburg Address" achieved almost scriptural status for American culture? What, in Lincoln’s view, was at stake in the battle and the larger war for which it proved to be the turning point? How can we account for the majesty and precision of Lincoln’s language? We will discuss these and other questions through a close reading of the speech and consideration of the context in which Lincoln delivered it. Leader: Andrew Delbanco, Julian Clarence Levi Professor in the Humanities, Director of American Studies, Columbia University; National Humanities Center Fellow