6 Thursday, November 14, 2013
MICHIGAN K.I.D.S. | WWW.DNIE.COM
Lincoln’s Words of Freedom Still Ring True Today
“Four score and seven years ago”…
Do you know who said those words? President Abraham Lincoln
said them 150 years ago on November 19. The occasion was a sad
one, the dedication of the first national cemetery, amid the Civil War,
still raging across our nation. (Score refers to a group of 20!)
Gettysburg, Pennyslvania, was the site of a turning-point battle
with great losses, more than 30,000 dead and wounded, more than
any other battle. The number of Union soldiers left dead – about
3,600 – created the need for a cemetery.
The Yak had the chance to visit the Gettysburg National Military
Park, including the David Wills house where President Lincoln finished
writing this memorable speech. Walking through the modest home in
Gettysburg gave us chills as we thought of President Lincoln writing
out a clean copy of what he thought were words – just over 250
words – for a simple dedication. He never imagined that children and
adults would learn these words for scores of years to come.
The president stayed the night in the home, polishing what he
called “a few appropriate remarks” at the then-named Soldiers’
National Cemetery.
Why are these remarks memorized even today, and still important?
We talked with Barbara J. Sanders, an
education specialist with the National Park
Service.
The year 1863 began with the
Emancipation Proclamation, and with
the Gettysburg Address, (address here
means a talk, not a street address!) another
foundation of freedom was laid, she
explained. First, she set us straight on a
couple myths about the famous words.
President Lincoln did NOT scribble the
words on an envelope while he rode the
train from Washington, D.C., to Gettysburg.
“He gave those words a lot of thought,” said Barbara. Not that he
had a lot of time.
He received the invitation to attend the ceremony on November 2
of that year.
But, said Barbara, he had already been sharing some of the same
thoughts expressed in the address. His message in 1863 was a bit of
a pep rally to the troops and the people fighting in the war. The times
were discouraging, and the original reason expressed for fighting
the war – to preserve the union – among other individual reasons,
just wasn’t enough, said Barbara. This was the year that President
Lincoln, beginning with the proclamation to free the enslaved,
stressed that the fighting was for people’s rights – a bigger and
broader concept to unify everyone. “He really changed the goals of
the war,” said Barbara. His speech made clear – his reflection on
the country’s founding and asked the question, “Does it mean equal
rights for all people?” she said. “His address captures the idea and
challenges of freedom,” she said.
That speech was likely begun and maybe finished in Washington,
D.C.
But documents show that “he wrote out a clean copy” the night
before at the David Wills house. Barbara says that final copy is
believed to reflect a few revisions – and she reminds students on her
tours that revisions in writing make for the greatest works. And she
also stresses that great writing, or thoughts, don’t have to be long.
She urges everyone to read the brief speech. The “idea of freedom
will always be important,” says Barbara. “We know the rights of every
generation will always be debated. (This asks us) what does it mean
to be an American?”
Her favorite phrasing is at the end because, she said, because it
lays out a vision and commitment to rights for all, stating “…that we
here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain… that
the nation 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.”
To study and learn more and read the complete
speech, check out the Library of Congress website at
http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/gettysburgaddress.
By Cathy Collison
Photo Courtesy of Gettysburg National Military Park
The David Wills House is a modest home, restored as it would have looked when
President Abraham Lincoln visited Gettysburg, staying overnight with lawyer David
Wills, who had organized the work for a national cemetery.