Bible Quote by William Lee Miller
“When I went to an Aspen seminar on "American Scriptures" - the bicentennial of the Declaration and they discussed the preamble and the Gettysburg Address and much more, but not Lincoln's Second Inauguration, I challenged that omission and they said find something on it and to my astonishment, at that time, there was no book or long article that really did it. So I wrote one that attempted to do it justice. Although obscurely published, that essay got a nice bounce. Somehow David Donald saw it, and in his notes to his biography singled it out.”
About This Quote
Source Essay: American Scriptures Seminar Reflection, 1976, unpublished essay
The author noticed a gap in discussion of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address and filled it by writing an essay, which later gained scholarly attention
In simple terms: Identified a missing perspective and contributed original analysis
Key Takeaway
Address overlooked historical content with research
Themes
history
research
originality
scholarship
Mood
reflective
inquisitive
Type
analytical
scholarly
When to use this quote
- academic conferences
- history classes
- public lectures
- research projects
Key Concepts
historical analysis
academic writing
public discourse
Questions to Reflect On
- How can overlooked primary sources be brought to light?
- What motivates scholars to fill gaps in discourse?
A Different Perspective
The essay’s impact was limited by its obscure publication; broader dissemination needed
![“The people who visit the [Lincoln] memorial always look like an advertisement for democracy, so bizarrely, suspiciously diverse that one time I actually saw a man in a cowboy hat standing there reading the Gettysburg Address next to a Hasidic Jew. I wouldn’t have been surprised if they had linked…” quote by Sarah Vowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/3fe/sarah-vowell-2016_addresses_the-people-who-visit-the-lincoln-memoria_1143653.jpg)
