NOVA MCGILL
Contributor
On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address for the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In a few minutes and with 272 words, this address delivered by the American President became one of the most eloquent and unforgettable statements in American history. Lincoln’s remarks were meant to give back to the national purpose—the honoring of the sacrifices made by Union soldiers in the Civil War, and the reaffirmation of the nation beyond its boundaries to democracy and equality—meaning for the war itself and for those sacrifices, for the internal struggle was anything other than.
It was during Gettysburg that the bitter conflict took place between Union and Confederate forces, each grappling for control of what would later become the deadliest battlefield of the Civil War, with more than 50,000 casualties combined. But because it was the battle around which grief, physical, and emotional scars surround, in those months that the government brought forth the national cemetery to bury and memorialize the fallen, it was here at this dedication that Edward Everett, an orator of that day, gave a two-hour speech. Lincoln was invited simply to give a few “appropriate remarks,” which turned out to be what became one of the greatest speeches in American rhetoric.
The very principles of the founding of the nation were the focus of Lincoln’s themes, along with the human price of the war, and compelling the living to continue the struggle. He began it with a reiteration of the Declaration of Independence, reminding all in the audience that the U.S. government was based on the premise and principle of equal rights, in which all men are born with rights. Just this reshaped the war into a Union preservation cause as well as a trial to see whether or not it could survive an internal split. This reframing brought a broader stake to the cause in the Civil War and built a moral link between the Union cause to the founding documents’ unfulfilled promises.
The second part of the speech, therefore, induced an aura of reverence on those who fought and died in Gettysburg. Lincoln would say that the ground was so holy for their sacrifice already that no oratory, no matter how skilled, could lend any of its own significance to what had been accomplished. This reflected the costliness of war. These incidents, where life has been given in battle, bring to light the true heroes of the war.
Lincoln’s conclusion, therefore, invited people into action. He invited the nation to continue in that conscious devotion to the “unfinished work” of ensuring that sacrifices such as these were not in vain. Thus, he would hold the Union and come up with “a new birth of freedom” that would take the nation closer still to the ideals of equality and democracy. His conclusion, which was “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth,” was a vision of democratic governance that would have implications for generations to come.
The reception varied widely. However, it is the Gettysburg Address that has defined an American national identity document. Its uniqueness and weight in terms of democratic message and moral clarity distinguish it in the memory of man. As such, Lincoln took a cemetery dedication and made it into a moment of reflection as a nation regarding what it was really going to mean in their fight during the Civil War, and what this country should aspire to be.
Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address constitutes a great proclamation of all American ideals. as well as a constant reminder of the sacrifices necessary in order to uphold the same. By linking the purpose of the Civil War with the historic founding principles of the United States, Lincoln successfully reframed the conflict and began to shape the American people’s understanding of freedom and equality in the nation. These words hence became one of the most significant expressions of commitment to democracy in American history.
Portrait from Library of Congress via AP