Lincoln's Address vs. Jefferson's Declaration Two of the most important and perhaps the two most important documents in American history are the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address. The Declaration of Independence, the document of secession written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776, provided for the complete independence of the states from the British Empire. The Gettysburg Address was a document on the theory of union that emphasized the need for a united country and expressed the importance of doing whatever was necessary to complete the task of keeping the states united as one. It was written and delivered by Abraham Lincoln in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, during the dedication of a cemetery for the soldiers who died there in the famous Civil War battle. These two documents of Jefferson and Lincoln are different in more ways than similar. More specifically, the clear difference between the two in organization and the contradiction of arguments that each expresses is what shows that the Gettysburg Address and the Declaration of Independence were two documents written on completely different ends of the spectrum. For this reason, the two are as significant to each other as they are individually to the building and shaping of America and its rich history. The fact that these two documents are so different from each other is what makes them such important pieces of history. Jefferson's idea of ​​decentralization and freedom versus Lincoln's theory of a centralized, unified, indivisible nation and government represents the change and difference of opinions between two people from different eras in American history. This change and difference of opinion was the result of a growing country and is what was needed for... middle of paper ......re. At the same time, however, Lincoln's national theory of union and centralized government was vital to maintaining the states as the United States of America. The irony and significance of these two documents is that neither man's arguments would be considered correct at every point in American history, nor would they be considered incorrect at every point in history. But these documents are considered two of the most important documents in American history, because they were composed and delivered at the right times in American history. The Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address are symbols of the men who composed them and the times in which they were composed. They represent the challenges the country faced and the men, Jefferson and Lincoln, who accepted those challenges and overcame them. with their own solutions.