Why the Gettysburg Address Matters, Part 1

About this episode

This episode explores the significance and impact of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.

It is one of the most famous speeches in the English language and one of the most consequential. In this special two-part documentary, we explore Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address – why he gave it, what it meant, and its impact at the time and ever since. From the rolling fields of Pennsylvania to Parliament Square in London and the dust of Havana, Cuba, Adam Smith follows the path of the Gettysburg Address and asks why it is has mattered. Contributors: Steve Scafidi, a poet and the author of  To the Bramble and the Briar  (University of Arkansas Press, 2014); Richard Carwardine, Rhodes Professor Emeritus at the University of Oxford and author of Righteous Strife: How Warring Religious Nationalists Forged Lincoln’s Union (Knopf, 2024); Elizabeth Varon, Langbourne M. Williams Professor of American History at the University of Virginia and author of Armies of Deliverance: A New History of the Civil War (Oxford University Press, 2019); Martin P. Johnson, Associate Professor of History at Miami University in Ohio and author of Writing the Gettysburg Address (University Press of Kansas, 2013); and Dr Jared Peatman, George Washington University, and author of The Long…

People in this episode

Host: Adam Smith

Guests: Steve Scafidi, Richard Carwardine, Elizabeth Varon, Martin P. Johnson, Dr Jared Peatman

Topics covered

• Gettysburg Address
• Abraham Lincoln
• American history
• impact of speeches
• Civil War

Keywords

• Gettysburg Address
• Abraham Lincoln
• speech analysis
• historical impact
• American Civil War

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Oxford, University of Virginia, Miami University, George Washington University

Books & works: To the Bramble and the Briar, Righteous Strife: How Warring Religious Nationalists Forged Lincoln’s Union, Armies of Deliverance: A New History of the Civil War, Writing the Gettysburg Address, The Long Shadow of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, Gettysburg

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