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<p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://www.history.com/images/media/slideshow/civil-war-gettysburg/gettysburg-address.jpg">http://www.history.com/images/media/slideshow/civil-war-gettysburg/gettysburg-address.jpg</a></p>
<p align="center"><span style="text-decoration: underline">“Four score and seven years ago”</span></p>
               One of the most famous quotes in the country starts off with “Four score and seven years ago” it’s quoted in movies, said by our children when they are growing up, it was first said by President Abraham Lincoln back on November 19, 1863 at the Gettysburg Memorial Dedication. The speech was given in a ceremony by Abraham Lincoln that was over the graves of the men who fought in the battle of Gettysburg “four and half months before” (Roy P. Balser). I would like for you to get a better understanding behind the picture above by the time that you are done with reading; the picture above that was taken by Mathew Brady himself. This is the only photo that was taken at the time that had the current President Abraham Lincoln in it (that has shown up on the market). There are a lot of controversial things that were correlated to Mathew Brady with him taking photos during the Civil War and we will touch a bit on that as well. This photo is something that has an impact on history and is the photo of a piece of land that is this part of this countries historical landmark.<!--more-->

               The picture at the top of this page was taken on November 19, 1863 at the Gettysburg Memorial Dedication. This, like I have already said the only photo that has ever shown up from that day with the Abraham Lincoln in it. President Lincoln only spoke at the dedication for “hardly more than two minutes in length” (Owen Edwards) but the speech (at least the start of it) has been stuck and embedded into the minds of the youth over and over again in each generation. There was another guy by the name of Edward Everett who at that time was a senator in the state of Massachusetts. Everett’s speech did not become as famous as President Lincoln’s did, nor was Everett’s speech short, it is said that Everett’s speech was just a bit longer than two hours long. “Harry Rubenstein who is on the board of politics with the Smithsonian was quoted saying “Everybody says the same thing about the ceremony: Lincoln gave a great speech and Everett spoke for two hours." (Own Edwards)

               There are over 6,000 photos that have been stored in museums around this country about the Civil War. There are pictures of before and after battles, but there has not been one picture that has popped up of actual battlefield pictures; most of these pictures will have the name Mathew Brady to it as the photographer. He had helpers that also took photos for him too and those men will have their name on the photo, but not all of Mathew Brady’s men made it through the war alive, and back then there were no copyright laws on photos. So it is said that Mathew Brady stole photos from those were working for him or taking pictures after they had been killed in a battle and published them as his work; but no one can actually prove or disprove it. This photo though, at the Gettysburg Memorial Dedication is in fact a photo taken by Mathew Brady he was known to be there and there is no question that he would have past this up due to the war was in a stall and no large battles were being faught.

               The photo as you can see above is a very dark photo. Even though it is in the summer it looks like it might have been a cold day, but personally think that is just due to the fact it is in black and white, and a little over hundred years old.  The picture is blurry and it is hard to make out at first if that is Abraham Lincoln in the middle but on a different website you can see it blown up and tell that it is Abraham Lincoln (<a href="http://www.traversecityparanormal.com/Types_of_Hauntings_in_Gettysburg.html">http://www.traversecityparanormal.com/Types_of_Hauntings_in_Gettysburg.html</a>).

               This photo was typical of the time due to that others were taking pictures of a speech given by a President Lincoln, or of a speech being given by someone. Something that is a good comparison from that time would have to be the photo of Lincolns 2<sup>nd</sup> Inaugural speech in 1864 shortly after he gave his speech in Gettysburg, West Virginia. In both instances they expected something meaningful to be said and there was a large group around to listen to him. If you look at a picture before this time they aren’t as clear and focused as these two photos are.

               This helps make the photo more innovated for its time, because people were taking photos but the only good ones that came out clear were the ones that were standing put for a long period of time. Mathew Brady was an innovated person with thinking that someone should photographically document a war so people can actually be able to get pictures from the front lines of the battlefields. Showing pictures of men at camps on their free time, as men got ready for a fight, and the carnage that was left behind after the last shot of that battle was fired. The fact that he thought of hiring people to take photos for him so he could be able to get just about every single battle so nothing would be missed (unless his men had died during a battle).

               This pictured could be compared to a photo now of one of our presidents or a famous person who has gone over seas to our troops in the Middle East to raise their spirits while they are away from their family and fighting for their country. But one photo that would be really well compared to this photo would be the one where President Bush had a conference talking to everyone letting them know what had happened on September 11, 2001. President Bush acted just like Abraham Lincoln and gave a short but meaningful speech to the public and didn’t try to do too much at one time.

               The pictures at that time came across in a positive and negative way.  I know that people didn’t really like his photos because they weren’t a fan of him due to they had heard he took others who had died photos and developed them and published them as his. But this photo itself of Abraham Lincoln was mostly liked because of the fact it was of the Gettysburg Memorial Dedication and that everyone knew of how large the number of deaths on that battlefield and it was a speech by Lincoln and he didn’t do many speeches (The people also had pushed for Abraham Lincoln to do a speech trying to get the two sides to stop fighting since so many people were dying. Lincoln was too busy to give a speech until the day he gave this speech to the public. This is just another meaning that allows this photo to be so meaningful.).

               I think that majority of the people today like this picture (if they are happy with the way the Civil War ended). It is something that has so much meaning. When the picture was found it was taken and stored in the Smithsonian so it would never be ruined, and we would have this meaningful piece of history for everyone to see. Mathew Brady has a lot of photos from the Civil War that are well loved and hated (due to the graphic of some of them), but the fact they are all a part of history and showing something that had never been seen before at that time unless you had been on the front lines fighting yourself wants to make you like them.

               I love Mathew Brady’s work. Now do I honestly think he took all the pictures of the war that he has his name credited to? No, not at all do I think he might have taken a lot of them yes.  Without these photos then we would have no visual images of the war of what took place during the down time. His photo of the Gettysburg Address is something that I love because of the fact that, that one picture even though taken after the battle help change the mentality of people who had fought in the war. It is also the only photo that has Abraham Lincoln on the battlefield talking about what had taken place, motivating this country to come to a halt with the war. The most meaningful thing about this picture is probably something that is not going to be meaningful to someone else, but in the background (behind everyone) of where this picture is taken is where my family’s farm sat before the war.

               This photo amongst other photos by Mathew Brady should be preserved for the fact that this is one if not the worst war in our country’s history. This photo alone is where one battle that took place killing thousands (actual number is still not known) of men in one battlefield. This photo is taken during a speech by the president at the time who was trying to convince the people of this country to stop fighting and just reside because the killing was becoming too high. This photo is also a reminder that this country was different and that slavery was wrong and that if we fall back that way the many more men and women would die just like they did on that field that day in July.

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<p align="center"><span style="text-decoration: underline">Bibliography</span></p>

<ol>
	<li>Abraham Lincoln Online; by Roy P. Balser; October 17, 2011 <a href="http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm">http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm</a></li>
	<li>Abraham Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address Lincoln Mentions Government “Of the people, by the people, and For the People”; by Robert McNamara; About.com Guide; October 17<sup>th</sup>, 2011 <a href="http://history1800s.about.com/od/abrahamlincoln/a/gettysburgadd01.htm">http://history1800s.about.com/od/abrahamlincoln/a/gettysburgadd01.htm</a></li>
	<li>Gettysburg Address Displayed at Smithsonian; by Owen Edwards; Smithsonian Magazine, December 2008;   <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Object-at-Hand-Gettysburg-Address-200812.html">http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Object-at-Hand-Gettysburg-Address-200812.html</a></li>
	<li>Teaching With Documents: The Civil War as Photographed by Mathew Brady, by Douglas Perry, National Archives, October 31, 2011 <a href="http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/brady-photos/">http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/brady-photos/</a></li>
	<li>Types of Hauntings in Gettysburg, by: Natalie Lynn, 2006, October 31, 2011, <a href="http://www.traversecityparanormal.com/Types_of_Hauntings_in_Gettysburg.html">http://www.traversecityparanormal.com/Types_of_Hauntings_in_Gettysburg.html</a></li>
</ol>