Lincoln

In this blog, I'd like to focus on the Gettysburg Address and Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. Certainly, the Gettysburg address has been somewhat canonized in American history books. Children have been made to recite the first few paragraphs while wearing a top hat and a fake beard. But while re-reading it here, it seems that Lincoln does not even want to be there on that day. The gravity of the moment, I think, demanded a coming to grips with reality for everyone there. That action, facing death, broken life and a broken nation had to have challenged Lincoln's resolve. Without giving up hope for the future, I got the sense that Lincoln found himself swimming in dissolution during that ceremony. He said, "...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." I think Lincoln knew he was right; he knew he was right about the preservation of the Union, about ending slavery in that Union and about the steps he had to take in order to meet those demands. But, I think he had a hard time reconciling the fact that a large portion of his brothers and sisters so staunchly rejected his resolution, to the point that they would bring this type of mass devastation in opposition. In his second inaugural address, he continues in his sense of befuddlement that the South would go to such great lengths and fight so long and hard for an issue he knows he stands justified. He says about the North and the South, "Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces' but let us judge not that we be not judged." He continues to talk about God's role in the great struggle between the two sections, and although Lincoln believes he was on God's side (if God had a side in this mess), he almost seems apologetic that even his side had to engage in an armed conflict of that magnitude in order to bring about justice. There is no doubt though, that Lincoln clearly states in this address that slavery was wrong and by whatever endeavor necessary must be erased from America's boarders. He was not hesitant to blame the South for starting the war and for continuing it in blatant disregard for God and country.