If we were to be transported back to 1863, we would be amazed at the sentiment of the majority of our Nation toward the President. He was totally despised by the southern states. Even some members of the US Congress referred to him as a dictator and as King Abraham Africanus I. A year later he would narrowly win reelection, challenged by one of his own generals, George McClellan. Many citizens of the North could not understand why Lincoln would not just let the rebels go and leave them in peace. Early on in the war Lincolns stated mission was to preserve the Union and would not require the abolition of slaves in the south if they would rejoin. That all changed with the issue of the Emancipation Proclamation in January, 1863. The freeing of the slaves became the central issue of the war. Many in the North, especially new immigrants did not agree with this, as they saw freed slaves as competition for the jobs they were holding or seeking. Lincolns summary of his mind and heart are found in a part of the short speech he gave at the dedication of the Union cemetery at Gettysburg. The audience that heard and the newspapers that reported the event thought the words would soon be forgotten. 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 Nov. 19, 1863 These words, that were little valued by contemporaries of that time, have become some of the most precious words uttered in the history of this Nation. Though I may not agree with many of my FB friends on the state of the Nation or in the proper direction for it to go, the words of this address still deeply stir me. That Government OF the people, FOR the people, and BY the people.....(not small groups, the 1%, special interests or corporations)...shall not perish from the earth. My hope is that as we go forward in our nation we not make government decisions based only on money or power, but because it is the right thing to do.
Posted on: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 19:43:50 +0000
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