Lincoln, his Gettysburg Address, and Memorial Day

Today is the day currently designated as Memorial Day, which was initially celebrated as a day known as Decoration Day. The intent was to allow the surviving families of those who gave their lives during the American Civil War to properly remember their dearly departed. Memorial Day originally began as a way to honor only those Union soldiers who had died as a result of the Civil War. Later, all service men and women who had died while serving their country were included.

Hundreds of thousands of men and boys sacrificed their lives in the war. Yet, though their lives came to an end, the Union was able to rise from its own deathbed. Abraham Lincoln foresaw that war between Amercans was going to change America for better or for worse. Memorial Day was created out of the ashes of the death and destruction of the First Civil War in order to honor the staggering number of dead American (over 620,000) men and boys. The holiday reflects the honor Americans still give to those who had given their lives for the sake of Freedom itself. It is reflective that the ideals of Freedom are still evident within the internal DNA of Americans.

Born from the ashes, destruction and death of the American Civil War, Memorial Day was eventually established by the Veterans Association after the war as a way of honoring the Union soldiers who gave their lives that the United States could survive as a nation. Abraham Lincoln expressed the sentiment best when he honored the soldiers who fought and died at Gettysburg.

Lincoln serves as our witness to this tumultuous war. In his Gettysburg Address, he provided clarity to the why of the war in a brief but cogent statement. He gave his perspective on the purpose of that war and on the value of the ultimate sacrifice made by those who “gave their lives that that nation might live…”

He also made a statement that may have been too bold for the time. He declared, “The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.” But today, as countless Americans celebrate Memorial Day, the question can be asked: Have Americans forgotten what those brave soldiers did at Gettysburg, or on the Hindenburg line, or on the beaches of Normandy, or in the hills of Korea, or in the jungles of Vietnam, or what the men and women in uniform are doing on the front lines today?

It is still quite important to remember why soldiers died at Gettysburg, or any of the battles in the Civil War. It also might be possible to connect the dots as to why so many Americans gave their lives over so many years in such faraway places. Americans have the capacity to choose what matters most. But, sadly, the more choices we all have, the more our capacity for confusion or distraction.

Lincoln’s words have continued to ring true through the ages, especially for those who can grasp the deeper meaning of his words. Ironically, in November of 1863, it is apparent from his carefully chosen words in the Gettysburg Address that he was not entirely certain that the Union would prevail. He hints at this three times in this address, carefully referring to the obvious: 

“Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated [conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men were created equal] can long endure.” 

The fears of many of the founders were that such a nation might have a short lifespan, and Lincoln had studied their words and understood.

It is undeniable that Lincoln understood the United States had been founded as a unique nation dedicated to freedom in a world filled with tyranny.

But the reality of that peculiar institution of slavery within the United States was blatantly indicative of the existence of tyranny in America’s backyard. Slavery by any other name is still slavery. Lincoln realized that the very existence and toleration of slavery meant that the ideals of the founders were incomplete and unfinished. Lincoln had explained in his famous “house divided” speech that this nation had been created through compromise between those who accepted slavery and those who relied upon slavery.

In the time Lincoln was president, the majority of the Southern population in the country was against him, and the rest were unsure of what they believed about slavery. But, it was Lincoln and a small minority of Americans who believed slavery was wrong – politically, economically and morally. Although Lincoln did not become an abolitionist, his attitude was simple: the nation could not continue to be half slave and half free because a house divided against itself cannot endure. In essence, either the nation would be a land of the free and freedom would be given to people throughout the land, or the nation as founded upon principles of freedom would die.

The longer the war dragged on, the less Lincoln was certain that the United States could hold on to the dream of freedom for all people. At Gettysburg, he challenged the people for whom this mattered:

“It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated 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 – 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…”

The cause for which those Union soldiers gave the last full measure of their devotion was that this nation, under God, had a new birth of freedom. Keeping the torch of freedom lit has been the continual challenge of a nation conceived in liberty, a challenge to further and develop such ideals or lose recognition of their value. It is the continual challenge as well of whether any nation so conceived and so dedicated can continue to endure.

Closely examining Lincoln’s choice of words in the Gettysburg Address, one can understand that he was most concerned with the survival of the key founding principles mentioned in the first paragraph of his Gettysburg Address.

He was absolutely determined to make certain that the dream of freedom would not dissolve. Lincoln grasped that the stakes were extremely high during the Civil War. But they always seem to be high when the battle between freedom and slavery takes substantial form. It is fitting and proper that Americans remember those who gave their lives “that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from this earth.”

In a much broader sense, the cost of freedom is quite high. It is ultimately up to those men and women who have chosen to wear the uniform of their country, who are often required to lay down their lives for the preservation of freedom throughout the world. Who else would? For whom does it matter as much?

It is good that it still matters, that the dream of freedom is still what defines America. It is good that it still matters that there have been men and women who have offered their lives so that such a nation conceived in liberty might endure. It is good that there have been men and women who have offered their lives to preserve the dream of freedom for others.

May God bless those who offered their lives for the sake of others.

Dennis Jamison reinvented his life after working for a multi-billion dollar division of Johnson & Johnson for several years. Currently retired from West Valley College in California, where he taught for nearly 10 years, he now writes articles on history and American freedom for various online publications.

Jamison also co-founded RedAmericaConsulting to identify, counsel, and support citizen-candidates, who may not have much campaign money, but whose beliefs and deeds reflect the role of public servants rather than power-hungry politicians.  ​