Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon 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 here on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it 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 can never forget what they did here.

It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they have, thus far, so nobly carried on. 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 here gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. http://americancivilwar.com/north/lincoln.html

The Gettysburg Address is one of my favorite documents, timeless and so reflective of the values I treasure as an American.

Lefty and TheraP, asked me to post an essay concerning this masterpiece of American Literature and since it is one subject that I can never shut up about, I agreed.

Where did this come from? What made Lincoln give this speech and why did he choose the words and references he did?

My favorite book on this subject is  by Garry Wills. Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America. Touchstone Books, 1993.

There are tomes on this subject, really. Hundreds. I take most of my ideas from Wills.

Take a look at the first few words of the speech. This is 1863. The Constitution of the United States was ratified in 1787, really going into effect in 1788.  Well arithmetically, Lincoln might have started with 'three score and 16 years ago...I mean we became a 'country' under our Constitution at that time.

Or what about Plymouth Rock or Jamestown.....I mean he was speaking of forefathers who brought forth on this continent new nation?

Four score and seven refers to one thing and one thing only (although poetically many things), and that is the Declaration of Independence:

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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. -- That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.... http://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/document/index.htm. 

"All men are created equal comes from the Declaration of Independence" and not the Constitution. Certainly not a Constitution that called an African-American 3/5 of a human being.

And from whence did Lincoln gather these words? From the Declaration "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed"

The new birth refers to the time of the Declaration as the time of our birth. And as the Declaration provides, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish that government. So Lincoln is calling for an alteration not an abolition of the United States of America.

It all fits so neatly. Why a hundred books must be dedicated to such a simple concept, is beyond me.

The Declaration of Independence carried no legal applications, then or now.  Yet Lincoln pointed to it as the source from which he and his America could make a new start. A rebirth. A baptism of sorts.

THE DECLARATION IS YOUR DOCUMENT, TAKE TIME AND READ IT, not just translations by experts. http://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/document/index.htm. 

THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS IS YOUR DOCUMENT, TAKE TIME AND READ IT, not just translations by experts. http://americancivilwar.com/north/lincoln.html

THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION IS YOUR DOCUMENT, TAKE TIME AND READ IT, not just translations from experts. http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/freedom/constitution/text.html

As a direct result of the deaths of over 600,000 soldiers and of Lincoln's foresight and brilliant execution by the Radical Republicans following Lincoln's death, the most important Amendments to the US Constitution were enacted:

AMENDMENT XIII

Passed by Congress January 31, 1865. Ratified December 6, 1865.

Note: A portion of Article IV, section 2, of the Constitution was superseded by the 13th amendment.

Section 1.
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

AMENDMENT XIV

Passed by Congress June 13, 1866. Ratified July 9, 1868.

Note: Article I, section 2, of the Constitution was modified by section 2 of the 14th amendment.

Section 1.
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

AMENDMENT XV

Passed by Congress February 26, 1869. Ratified February 3, 1870.

Section 1.
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude--

Section 2.
The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_amendments_11-27.html

It is only through the 14^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, that the Bill of Rights, discussed by TheraP apply to all individuals citizens and cannot be contravened by the States or other local governments. It took a hundred years to put these rights into our hands. I suppose nothing happens over night.

And in the 14^th Amendment, the words: ...nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

You see now the connection between the Declaration of Independence, The Gettysburg Address and the 13^th, 14^th & 15^th Amendments to the United States Constitution.

THESE ARE YOUR DOCUMENTS, NOT JUST THE DOCUMENTS OF JUDGES, LAWYERS OR POLITICIANS.

THE END.