OPINION: Many lessons we’ve learned from the Gettysburg Address are still relevant in the 21st century
Contributed
September 25, 2022
WASHINGTON (AGN.News) – Yes, there are many historical lessons we can learn from the Gettysburg Address and many of the lessons are still relevant in the 21st century. In fact, it is impossible to count all of them. Contained herein are just a few.
The year began with a number of high-profile events. On January 1, 1863 President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. There were many reports of people turning on their neighbors and even their family members over the issue of slavery. A civil war was recording thousands of casualties on both sides.
What was the Emancipation Proclamation?
The anticipated Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the Civil War. The Proclamation changed the legal status of over four million enslaved African Americans in the secessionist Confederate states from enslaved to free.
The country was very divided on the question of slavery. Many people wanted all the enslaved Americans set free so they could be more productive citizens. Others felt taking such a step would cost the owners hundreds of millions of dollars. Having to pay for labor after over two hundred years was a non-starter.
Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address
The memorable Gettysburg Address was delivered on the afternoon of November 19, 1863, by the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. The speech was given at the dedication ceremony for the Soldiers’ National Cemetery. Today, it’s known as Gettysburg National Cemetery, located in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
President Lincoln spoke for only a few minutes but his delivered speech has become known as one of the best speeches in Americas’ oratory history. In just a few sentences he was able to express his view of the Civil War and how it can move future Americans to action.
Lincoln knew there was a lot at stake for the country in 1863. A rebel army facing off in battle against their one-time fellow Americans. With tens of thousands of dead and wounded on both sides dying in the field, Lincoln knew that great challenges were ahead.
The Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg was fought on July 1-3, 1863 in a grassy field in the little town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Union armies defeated the forces of the Confederate States of America, known as the Confederacy, on the battlefield of Gettysburg in the deadliest battle of the American Civil War (1861-1865).
Cost of war: Between 46,000 and 51,000 soldiers from both armies were casualties in the three-day battle, the most costly in US history. Four and a half months later, the United States dedicated the field of battle to honor the fallen Union soldiers who died there.
Images of dead Union soldiers lying in the field at Gettysburg were forever preserved and photographed by Timothy H. O’Sullivan, a civil war photographer, during the days after the battle from July 5–6, 1863.
Preamble of the Constitution
The Founding Father Gouverneur Morris, the initial writer of the Preamble of the Constitution of the United States before it was amended, could never have foreseen Americans killing one another, destroying public and private property over money and ideology.
The completed Preamble: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
The Founding Fathers wanted the beneficiaries to “form a more perfect union” for future generations. Many had fought for eight years to gain independence from the British. What would they say if they could come back and see a civil war? They wanted “a more perfect union” for America not division, strife, and war.
Lincoln’s 1863 Gettysburg Address
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 battle-field 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—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. — Abraham Lincoln
Reason for Civil War battles
What exactly were they fighting for at Gettysburg and beyond? There were many reasons, depending on who you ask but many historians have noted some of the reasons in simple terms.
The Union: Many historians have stated that these soldiers were fighting to preserve the Union with the elimination of slavery as an institution at its core. There were also many economic reasons why the northern elites wanted the war.
The Confederacy: Looking at the reasons why the South went to war against the United States, also called the Union, was to preserve slavery as an institution. President Lincoln wanted slavery to come to an end. He made that idea clear in a speech in Peoria, Illinois in 1854. His view was not a popular one in the South.
The states that formed the Confederacy included the preservation of slavery in their state constitutions. A careful review of the text contained in those state constitutions leaves little doubt as to why the South decided to split from the Union.
Lessons learned from Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg and the Gettysburg Address offers us many lessons that can empower us to apply those lessons. First, many of the people who were fighting each other were once friends, neighbors, coworkers, and family members. Now, they were facing each other in battle.
Most of the Generals on both sides were graduates of West Point. They trained together, shared rooms, enjoyed meals and classes together. Graduated in the same class and entered service to the United States of America in leadership positions as officers.
President Lincoln knew this togetherness was not enough. Lincoln knew that there was a lot of “unfinished work” to be dedicated to that needed to be completed. Lincoln knew the “great task” before us would call for dedication to the work those who died at Gettysburg gave their lives to achieve.
Lincoln wanted his listeners to spearhead the mission to highly resolve that those dead shall not have died in vain. He wanted Americans to support the concept of “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Great task of unfinished work ahead
We’ve learned that unity of purpose can have a positive or negative effect on a once united people. Care must be exercised not to allow the current national environment to fracture that unity.
Twelve score and six 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.”
Also, we all can learn an applicable lesson from the Declaration of Independence which says, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
These are just some of the lessons we have learned from the Gettysburg Address. We are confident there are many more to learn, and they are still relevant in the 21st century. This is our great task of unfinished work ahead.
COVID-19 PREVENTION
STOP THE SPREAD! GET VACCINATED!
VACCINES ARE AVAILABLE FOR FREE!
Everyone is being urged by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC.gov) to get vaccinated, wear masks, practice social distancing, and wash hands as a way to cut down on the transmission rate.
For more information on local responses to the novel coronavirus also called … COVID-19, contact your local healthcare provider, visit coronavirus.gov or visit cdc.gov for the United States response to the coronavirus.
News you can use! Enjoy the best of news from your community by Alphabet Global News.
ALPHABET GLOBAL NEWS
Reliable. Trusted. Local. News.
On Mobile … Fast!
Written by
AGN.News Team
Disclaimer: This post does not represent the views or viewpoint of the owner of AlpLocal.com, AGN News or its representatives or reporters. Any content which references any person, entity or group with similar names, descriptions, or business interest in any geographical location or similar businesses is merely a coincidence and not directed at said business. AGN News is compiled from submissions by contributors or other sources.
