Literary Calligraphy by Susan Loy


Americana Selections - The Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln

The Gettysburg Address

Abraham Lincoln’s address at Gettysburg National Cemetery on November 19, 1863 is regarded as one of the greatest speeches in American history; in it Lincoln repeated the principles of human equality put forth in the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal. There are five known manuscript copies of the Gettysburg Address, each named for the person who received it from Lincoln. All versions differ in their wording, punctuation, and structure. Susan Loy lettered The Bliss copy, once owned by the family of Colonel Alexander Bliss, the only manuscript which Lincoln signed.

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate - we cannot consecrate - we cannot hallow - this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. ~ Abraham Lincoln

Susan Loy lettered the Gettysburg Address in red and blue. The final phrase, “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth,” forms a circle surrounding her watercolor painting of the Lincoln Memorial and Reflecting Pool in shimmering shades of blue. The beginning lines of the Address form an intricate square border around a background inspired by details from the ceiling of the Lincoln Memorial.

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"The Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln"
Print Image Size: 9-1/2” x 9-1/2”
Print Paper Size: 11” x 11-1/2”
Frame Size: 16” x 16”

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