Editing Gettysburg Address (section)

=== Bliss copy ===
[[File:Gettysburg Address Bliss copy.jpg|thumb|[[Alexander Bliss]]' copy of the address, now on display in the [[Lincoln Room]] at the [[White House]]]]
Discovering that his fourth written copy could not be used, Lincoln then wrote a fifth and final draft, known as the Bliss copy{{Ref label|Bliss|e|e}} and named for Colonel [[Alexander Bliss]], Bancroft's stepson and publisher of ''Autograph Leaves''. It is the only copy of the address that is signed by Lincoln and the final version of the address that Lincoln is known to have written. Because of the care Lincoln used in preparing the Bliss copy and because this copy includes a title and is signed and dated by Lincoln, it is considered the standard version of the Gettysburg Address and the source for most facsimile reproductions of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. It is the version that is inscribed on the South wall of the [[Lincoln Memorial]].<ref name="hand"/>

This draft is now displayed in the [[Lincoln Room]] of the [[White House]], a gift of [[Oscar B. Cintas]], former [[Cuba]]n Ambassador to the United States.<ref name="gnmp" /> Cintas, a wealthy collector of art and manuscripts, purchased the Bliss copy at a public [[auction]] in 1949 for $54,000 (${{formatnum:{{inflation|US|54000|1949|r=-3}}}} as of {{CURRENTYEAR}}), at that time the highest price ever paid for a document at public auction.<ref>{{cite web|title=About Oscar B. Cintas|publisher=Oscar B. Cintas foundation|url=http://www.cintasfoundation.org/about|access-date=September 23, 2017|archive-date=September 23, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923150605/http://www.cintasfoundation.org/about|url-status=live}}</ref> Cintas' properties were claimed by the [[Fidel Castro|Castro government]] after the [[Cuban Revolution]] in 1959. Cintas, who died in 1957, willed the Gettysburg Address to the American people, provided it would be kept at the White House, where it was transferred in 1959.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Boritt|first1=Gabor|author-link=Gabor Boritt|work=The Wall Street Journal|date=November 16, 2006|page=D6|url=http://www.opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110009250|title=Change of Address: The Gettysburg drafts|access-date=December 4, 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213222142/http://www.opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110009250|archive-date=February 13, 2009}}</ref>

Garry Wills concluded that the Bliss copy "is stylistically preferable to others in one significant way: Lincoln removed 'here' from 'that cause for which they (here) gave&nbsp;...' The seventh 'here' is in all other versions of the speech." Wills noted the fact that Lincoln "was still making such improvements", suggesting Lincoln was more concerned with a perfected text than with an "original" one.<ref>Wills,  Appendix I.</ref>

From November 21, 2008, to January 1, 2009, the Albert H. Small Documents Gallery at the [[Smithsonian Institution]] [[National Museum of American History]] hosted a limited public viewing of the Bliss copy, with the support of then [[First Lady of the United States|First Lady]] [[Laura Bush]]. The museum also launched an online exhibition and interactive gallery to enable visitors to look more closely at the document.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://americanhistory.si.edu/documentsgallery/exhibitions/gettysburg_address_1.html|title=The Gettysburg Address|publisher=National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution|access-date=April 4, 2012|archive-date=December 1, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201083333/http://americanhistory.si.edu/documentsgallery/exhibitions/gettysburg_address_1.html|url-status=live}}</ref>