Peter Miele introduced the speaker, Codie Eash, who is his friend and associate at the Seminary Ridge Museum. Codie serves as the Operations Manager at the museum.
Codie shared a PowerPoint presentation of "That Marvelous Undying Utterance", about reflection of many people regarding Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. He mentioned how that speech is featured prominently throughout the museum and the visit culminates with the Gettysburg Address being played on the sixth floor of the museum. As Codie started into his program, he asked the rhetorical question, "What is the unfinished business of freedom?" The program contained three points:
1. What were Lincoln's anti-slavery intentions with his address?
2. What were his historical references?
3. What were the abolitionist's reactions to the speech?
Lincoln held the Declaration of Independence as his guiding document. He quoted part of that document in his speech, but many newspapers published articles that deadpanned the speech and some abolitionists doubted that Lincoln even wrote it. As expected the rebels were the strongest critics and many southern newspapers edited the speech to remove the words, "All men are created equal", as well as other parts of the speech that they didn't like.
Wendell Phillips Garrison wrote an article about Lincoln and his address given at Gettysburg in an effort to "hold his feet to the fire" and cause him to do more actions within his power as president. He also criticized Lincoln for pardoning confederate rebels and welcoming them back into the Union. Thaddeus Stevens thought the dedication of the cemetery was unnecessary and made the quote, "Let the dead bury the dead" when Lincoln and others were absent from Washington for the dedication.
The New York Times had favorable comments in regards to the speech. Senator Henry Wilson spoke favorably about the address at an abolitionist meeting. Goldwin Smith, who as a British activist, said, "Lincoln is something of a boor in his writings", but he also said, "Not a sovereign in Europe, however trained from the cradle for state pomps, and however prompted by statesmen and courtiers, could have uttered himself more regally than did Lincoln at Gettysburg." A Lincoln biographer, Isaac Newton Arnold, complimented Lincoln for his brevity and passion.
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote about the address, "In no language, ancient or modern, are words found to be so touching." There were also some local abolitionists who spoke of and wrote highly of the Gettysburg Address. There were some comparisons to other famous speeches including dedications by Fisher Ames and Daniel Webster. Some even compare the fervor of the Gettysburg Address to the speeches by the great abolitionist, John Brown.
Codie gave us a lot of information in a short period of time, but he did eventually run out of time and could not finish the slide show that he had prepared. President Larry pointed out that it gave us all enough information to whet our appetites to visit the museum and see the complete story there.
