Riverside Township Presents:

Gettysburg Replies:

The World Responds to

Abraham Lincolns Gettysburg Address
Discussion with Dr. Carla Knorowski, CEO, Abraham Lincoln Presidential
Library Foundation and Dr. James Cornelius, Curator of the Lincoln Collection
at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum

Saturday, January 23
3 p.m.
Riverside Township Hall
27 Riverside Rd
Riverside, IL 60546
A unique collection of 272-word essays and poems by contributors ranging from historians
to former presidents, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museums Gettysburg
Replies is a celebration of Lincoln and a tribute to the everlasting impact of his Gettysburg
Address. Sponsored by Riverside Township.
Almost five months after the Civil Wars deadliest clash, President Abraham Lincoln and other
Union leaders gathered to dedicate the Soldiers National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The program for the occasion featured music, prayer, orations, and benedictions. In
the middle of it all, the president gave a few commemorative remarks, speaking for just two
minutes, delivering what we now know as the Gettysburg Address.
Challenged to mark the enormity of the battlewhich had turned the tide of the war, though
neither side realized it yetLincoln used 272 words in ten sentences to rededicate the Union
to the preservation of freedom. It remains the most important statement of our nations commitment to personal liberty since the Revolutionary War, and has become one of the most
important speeches in American history, a cornerstone of who we are as a country. A century
and a half later, we still hold Lincolns message in our hearts.

For Gettysburg Replies, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation challenged presidents, judges, historians, filmmakers, poets, actors, and others to craft 272 words of their own to celebrate Lincoln, the Gettysburg Address, or a related topic that stirs their passions. President Jimmy
Carter reveals how the Gettysburg Address helped bring Egypt and Israel closer at the Camp David
Peace Accords. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day OConnor reflects on Lincolns dedication to the
importance of civic education. General Colin Powell explains how Martin Luther King Jr. took up
Lincolns mantle and carried it forward. Filmmaker Steven Spielberg touches on the benefits and
perils of hero worship. Poet Laureate Billy Collins explores the dichotomy between the private man
who wrote poetry (My Childhood Home I See Again) and the president who stood before all.
Attorney Alan Dershowitz echoes Lincolns words to rally us to the freedom from weapons of mass
destruction.
Gettysburg Replies features images of important Lincoln documents and artifacts, including the first
copy of the address that Lincoln wrote out after delivering it, the program from the cemetery dedication, Lincolns presidential seal, and more. Together, these words and images create a lasting tribute
not only to Lincoln himself but also the power of his devotion to freedom.

Dr. Carla Knorowski

Dr. James Cornelius

CARLA KNOROWSKI, PhD is Chief Executive Officer of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
Foundation, the gift receiving entity for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in
Springfield, Illinois. She is the editor of the best-selling Gettysburg Replies: The World Responds to
Abraham Lincolns Gettysburg Address, for which she also contributed an essay and co-curated an
exhibit at the ALPLM (The Power of Words, 2013) commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. She has previously contributed to Lincoln: An Intimate Portrait and is at work on a
new book, titled Under Lincolns Hatdue in the fall of 2016. A graduate of the University of Illinois at
Chicago, where she earned a doctorate in Public Policy and Political Science, Knorowski serves on the
board of directors for the Society of Midland Authors and has previously held key leadership positions
at UIC, Northeastern Illinois University, and the Chicago Humanities Festival.

James Cornelius, PhD is the Curator of the Lincoln Collection at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois, the premier repository in the world of Lincoln manuscripts,
family possessions, published works and fine or popular art. He previously was an editor at Doubleday,
Random House and Colliers Encyclopedia and a visiting assistant professor working with the University of Illinois Illinois History and Lincoln Collections. Cornelius is the author of many books, articles,
and book reviews about architecture, baseball, literature, and most of all American and British history
with his most recent work focusing on Lincoln, including co-authorship on the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum: Official Commemorative Guide published in 2011. He has written reviews
published in the Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, The Historian, Journal of Illinois
History, For the People: Newsletter of the Abraham Lincoln Association, and Journal of the Abraham
Lincoln Association.

272 Words
Gettysburg Replies
by Dr. Carla Knorowski, Chief Executive Officer, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation
272 WORDSthe number of words Lincoln used in the Gettysburg Address. Challenged to speak about the enormity of
Gettysburg, Lincoln used a mere 272 words, in 10 sentences, to convey the greatest, most important message of the timesome
say of all time. We still hold sacred its message.
As our readers know, to commemorate its
sesquicentennial, we decided to challenge
people from around the world to write
272 Words in the spirit of Abraham
Lincoln. This, for many, was daunting
to grasp, let alone attempt. Many refused
the challenge on the basis that they
could never write anything that could
approximate, let alone top, the simple yet
profound eloquence of Lincoln and the
Address. We found ourselves doing more
than our share of explaining that the point
of the 272-word challenge was not to try
to top the Gettysburg Address, write
as well as Lincoln, or change the course
of history. It was simply to celebrate the
16th President and his words. It was
hoped that essayists, in trying to get their
message across in only 272 words, would
come to realize in a deeper, more personal
way the greatness of the Address and just
how eloquent and gifted a communicator
Lincoln was.

essays longhand on the stationery of their

choice. Some essayists, faced with the
challenge of both writing and handwriting,
chose only the former. Others embraced
the two. Many had to rediscover the
seemingly lost art of applying pen to
paper rather than fingers to keyboard.
Some authors sheepishly revealed that
it was easier to compose the essay than
write it out by hand, but admitted that
handwriting it made the challenge all the
more appealing, while describing the
process as painful, humbling, and
in some cases humiliating. In the end,
some of our essayists chose hand lettering
instead. These choiceswhat to write
about, whether to type or write it out
longhand, what stationery to useall add
to the depth and richness of Gettysburg
Replies, the 272-word project, to the
essays, and to the essayists themselves as
we view the slants, curves, and styles of
their very personal penmanship.

We asked our essayists to write about

the 16th President, Gettysburg, the
Gettysburg Address, or a cause that
inspires them. Gettysburg Replies is
a compilation of 100 essays selected
from the more than 1,000 written by
people from all walks of life. The essays
are powerful, eloquent, and insightful.
They are a lasting tribute not only to the
greatness of Abraham Lincoln and the
Gettysburg Address, but to the power of
both the written and handwritten word.
Yes, in addition to writing 272 words,
essayists were challenged to walk further
in Lincolns footsteps and write out their

Now, almost two years after the 272-word

project was launched, the journey has
led to Gettysburg Replies, a compilation
of 21st century thought. Among the 100
essayists featured in the book are all five
living U.S. Presidents, filmmakers Steven
Spielberg, Kathy Kennedy, Ken Burns,
Sal Litvak and Jake Boritt, astrophysicist
Neil deGrasse Tyson and astronaut Jim
Lovell, poets Nikki Giovanni, Kevin Stein
and Billy Collins, students Katherine
Hitchcock, Grace Richards, David Walser,
Caleb Lewis and Ginny Greer, jurists
Sandra Day OConnor and Judith Judge
Judy Sheindlin, scholars Harold Holzer,

Four Score and Seven

Available now!

Tom Schwartz and Allen Guelzo (among

others) Holocaust survivor Sam Harris,
Medal of Honor recipient Allen Lynch,
USS Abraham Lincoln sailors Danian
Douglas, Jeremy Crandall and Amanda
Kilpatrick, Generals Colin Powell and
John Borling, and many, many others.
Gettysburg Replies is a whos who of
21st century thought all inspired by the
Great Emancipator Abraham Lincoln.
The book, published by Lyons Press, an
imprint of Rowman & Littlefield, is now
available in stores or online at giftshop.
presidentlincoln.org. The 204-page book
includes 100 essays and 205 photos. All
royalties from the book go to benefit the
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and
Museum (ALPLM), so please consider
adding this already fast-selling pageturner to your own personal collection.
When you do, you will be furthering your
already generous support of the ALPLM.
Thank you.