Gettysburg Address –PRE-AP
Annotation
This lesson will examine the most famous speech in American history to understand how Lincoln turned a eulogy at a cemetery
dedication into a concise and profound meditation on the meaning of the Civil War and American union.
On November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Lincoln delivered
what would become the most famous speech in American history. His dedicatory remarks began by going back in time, not to the
Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863, or even back to the framing of the U.S. Constitution, which was now under attack from
rebellious forces. He returned his audience to what he considered the true birth of the nation, July 4, 1776.
So in the midst of a war that could very well destroy the Union (if secession were to succeed), Lincoln presents "the great
task remaining before us": a fight to secure "government of the people, by the people, for the people." The three-day battle at
Gettysburg doubled the losses of any of the major conflicts of the war up to that point: Union army casualties totaled 23,000—over a
quarter of Gen. George G. Meade's men—while the Confederate dead, wounded, or missing have been estimated at 24,000 to 28,000about a third of Gen. Robert E. Lee's army. Thus, Lincoln saw the Civil War as a severe test of whether or not self-government "so
conceived and so dedicated can long endure."
Activity 1: The Gettysburg Address: An Initial Reading
Abraham Lincoln, “The Gettysburg Address” (November 19, 1863):
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/gadd/images/Gettysburg-2.jpg
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so
conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that
field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we
should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow (i.e honor)—this ground. The brave men,
living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor
long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the
unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task
remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure
of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new
birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Annotation 2
Even though the President fought the war to defend the Union and Constitution, the fact that it was a civil war indicated that
some Americans had forgotten the true meaning of their constitutional union. For Lincoln, its meaning centered on the birth of an idea,
expressed most clearly in the Declaration of Independence, that "all men are created equal.”
Although Lincoln believed America was "conceived in liberty," this conception did not produce liberty for all; the Civil War
was testimony to that. What began as a "self-evident" truth in 1776 had become by 1860 a "proposition" that needed to be
demonstrated. As Lincoln put it in an 1855 letter, "On the question of liberty… we are not what we have been." Once cotton became
"king" as the South's chief export, Southerners began defending the black slavery that produced it as "a positive good." This
eventually led some Americans in the North, helped by Stephen Douglas's "popular sovereignty" policy, to be indifferent towards
black slavery and hence its spread into federal territories. This shift in public opinion about the evil of slavery, Lincoln thought,
undermined the future of freedom for whites as well as blacks, for if race could be used as a reason for some to enslave others, what
would prevent a future majority from enslaving a minority on the basis of some other arbitrary characteristic or interest?
At the outset, Lincoln prosecuted the war only to preserve the Union, but abolitionists hoped the war would free the slaves.
As commander-in-chief, Lincoln waited until emancipation became "a fit and necessary war measure before issuing the liberating
decree on January 1, 1863. This made 1863 the Year of Jubilee, with freedom proclaimed to slaves throughout the rebellious sections
of the country. Emancipation thus became the backdrop for Lincoln's Gettysburg Address later that year.
With Emancipation declared for the vast majority of American slaves, Lincoln asked Americans to see that the fight to
defend the Constitution and Union had become, as well, a fight to defend the freedom of the slaves. Given the controversy about the
Emancipation Proclamation, even in the North, Lincoln did not directly say that a successful war for union had to be a war for
emancipation; his Gettysburg Address, therefore, never mentions the Emancipation Proclamation or slavery. Nevertheless, he also
never uses the word "union," choosing instead to speak of a "nation" dedicated to liberty at its birth, a "nation" tested for that belief,
and hence a "nation" he hopes will experience a "new birth of freedom." No longer will the war be fought simply to preserve "the
Constitution as it is, the Union as it was"—a popular slogan of Northern "peace Democrats."
In his Address to Congress in Special Session (July 4, 1861), Lincoln said the attempt of certain states to secede raised
profound questions for America: "Is there, in all republics, this inherent, and fatal weakness?" "Must a government, of necessity, be
too strong for the liberties of its own people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?" His use of the phrase, "a government of the
people, by the same people," which he repeats later in the Gettysburg Address, indicates his abiding concern for the viability (strength,
ability to survive) of self-government.
In Lincoln's mind, defending the American union from those who sought to divide it was the urgent business of every true
lover of liberal democracy, and thus the highest tribute the living could render the dead who were buried at Gettysburg.
Not everyone was enthralled with Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, even in the North. The Chicago Times, a Democratic
newspaper and longtime critic of Lincoln, thought he exploited the cemetery dedication for political purposes. In an editorial written a
few days after the Gettysburg ceremony, the Times argued that Union soldiers fought only to defend the Constitution and Union
against rebellious citizens, and not, as Lincoln asserted, to inaugurate "a new birth of freedom" for blacks as well as whites. Most
northern, Democratic newspapers simply ignored the president's brief remarks or joined the Chicago Times in criticizing Lincoln for
his partisanship and for siding with the "negro" as the equal of whites.
Questions
Answers
Why does Lincoln begin his
eulogy to the soldiers buried at
Gettysburg with a reference to
“Four score and seven years
ago”? (Hints: What significant
event happened in America
eighty-seven years before
1863?)
The Declaration of
Independence says “all men
are created equal” is a “selfevident” truth, suggesting that
human equality is obvious to
any unbiased person. Why does
Lincoln at Gettysburg call
human equality a “proposition,”
meaning something that needs to
be proven? (Hint: What does the
Civil War suggest about
American beliefs regarding
human equality??)
What does Lincoln mean by
calling the Civil War a test of the
ability of the nation to “long
endure”?