President Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg (1863)

President Lincoln at Gettysburg (1863) 

Building Context: Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as president on March 4, 1861, amid several crises. Southern states, upset by Lincoln’s election and the threat they believed he posed to the institution of slavery, were on the verge of rebellion. On April 12, this crisis turned into an open rebellion and civil war. The Civil War raged across the country, devastating families, farms, and towns. In July of 1863, a major battle was fought in the Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg. After three bloody days, the Union [the North] emerged victorious. This, coupled with a victory on the Mississippi River at the town of Vicksburg, proved a turning point in the conflict. In November of 1863, citizens and dignitaries gathered to commemorate a new national cemetery, built to bury the war dead.

Lincoln was invited to speak at the gathering, though he was not the primary speaker. That honor belonged to the then-famous orator [speaker] Edward Everett. Lincoln spoke second and gave what is known as the Gettysburg Address, one of the most famous speeches in American history.

Lincoln gave the speech as president, with the responsibility of his office weighing heavily upon him. As Commander-in-Chief, Lincoln oversaw the Union war effort against the Confederates [the South]. His responsibilities in this regard were many. While he did not control forces in the field, he appointed and dismissed several generals. In fact, only three days before the battle of Gettysburg, Lincoln replaced General Joseph Hooker as Commander of the main Union army with General George Meade.

In delivering the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln took on another aspect of his role as Commander-in-Chief. Here, he attempted to clearly state why the war, despite all its material and human cost, was worth fighting. Lincoln used the opportunity of dedicating the cemetery to reflect on the larger meaning of the war. Lincoln saw part of his role as engaging in oratory to persuade the American people of the justice of fighting for the republican ideals of the Union. He tied the war to the natural rights principles of the Declaration of Independence for the endurance of American self-government.

Read Lincoln’s words with his goals in mind. Then answer the questions that follow.

   

  Caption: President Abraham Lincoln

The Gettysburg Address (1863) 

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.	Four score and seven years ago: eighty-seven years ago. Lincoln is alluding to 1776 and the Declaration of Independence Proposition: a statement that expresses an opinion or judgment
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.	Consecrate: make something sacred or holy, a religious term
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.	Dedicated: devoted to a particular purpose

Comprehension and Analysis Questions

1. Who is President Lincoln’s audience?
2. What is the proposition that America is dedicated to, in Lincoln’s view?
3. What is the question Lincoln says the war is “engaged” to prove?
4. What is the task, according to Lincoln, to which the living must dedicate themselves?
5. How do Lincoln’s efforts at persuasion in the Gettysburg Address support a self-governing society?
6. Why is it important that a democratically elected leader communicates with the people they serve?
7. What concerns might arise from the president taking this role as the rhetorical leader of a war effort?
8. Is Lincoln acting as Commander-in-Chief by giving this address?