Lincoln at Gettysburg

Summary

A close reading of the Gettysburg Address that situates Lincoln's 272 words within classical rhetoric, the rural cemetery movement, and antebellum political theory. Wills argues that Lincoln quietly rewrote the meaning of the Constitution, anchoring American identity in the Declaration's promise of equality rather than in the compromises of the founding document. The book treats a familiar text as a feat of intellectual and political reinvention.