A New Birth of Freedom: Abraham Lincoln’s words of hope to a house divided
On this day in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address with these famous opening words: “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.”
Lincoln relied upon the wisdom of the American Founders, referencing the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence, where Jefferson wrote the most important words in American history: “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.”
Several months after the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, Lincoln spoke to the Union army, and in this pivotal moment, he reframed the Civil War. This battle for the Union was more than preservation: It was a war against slavery—and Lincoln’s words reignited passion for liberty and equality.
This crisis, however, didn’t appear overnight. The divisions over slavery were deep-seated prior to the Civil War, and it was a question that even the Founders contemplated.
Crisis of a House Divided
As sectional tensions escalated following the Kansas-Nebraska Act and Dred Scott Supreme Court decision, Lincoln entered the political scene.
The states were divided over the question of slavery, and tensions continued to bubble under the surface. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas debated political and social issues, but these debates were more than mere political speeches: Lincoln and Douglas presented competing visions that were “passionately concerned with the character of the beliefs in which the souls of men were to abide.”
Although there were many pressing problems facing mid-century America, such as westward expansion, agrarian grievances, international policy, and education, Lincoln narrowed in on the important issue of slavery. Lincoln’s oration “was a work of intellectual merit beyond the compass of any American statesman since Hamilton,” Harry Jaffa wrote.
Lincoln believed that the Union was worth preserving; and he believed that equality applied to everyone, no matter the color of their skin. Lincoln’s words were truths rooted in the depths of the Declaration, human nature, and enduring principle.
Would the American people promote or abolish slavery? That was the question that every American had to answer. Until the people addressed the self-evident truth of equality, all other political questions hung in the balance.
The American people had forgotten the principles of the Declaration of Independence—and Lincoln dedicated his efforts to changing the tide of public opinion, returning the American people to the principles of their Founding well before his presidency.
It’s not that the Declaration of Independence had failed: Many people had forgotten that equality applied to all people, and they needed a rude awakening.
A New Birth of Freedom
By April of 1861, eleven states seceded from the union, and by the summer of 1863, several hundred thousand men had died in battle. Although exact numbers are disputed, over 600,000 men died because of the Civil War, and many soldiers lost hope.
Robert E. Lee and the Confederates attempted to invade the north, leading to the Battle of Gettysburg in the summer of 1863. Soldiers gathered on the flat terrain, which provided almost zero protection. With knowledge of Robert E. Lee’s plans to invade, the Union established several defensive positions. After two grueling days of battle, the Confederates fired a canon at 3:00 p.m. on July 3, 1863, initiating the famous “Pickett’s Charge,” where 12,500 Confederate soldiers charged to Cemetery Ridge in a last-ditch effort to conquer Gettysburg. Although admirable, the charge failed.
The Confederates lost a significant number of their troops, leading to a Confederate retreat from the battle.
The Union army had just won the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, with roughly 50,000 casualties, but Union morale was dwindling: Men deserted in droves, draft riots ensued, and the Union army needed a reason for pressing onward.
On November 19, 1863, Lincoln was tasked with instilling hope to a people grieving the loss of grandfathers, brothers, friends, and sons and an army that was on the brink of despair.
Although many wanted to give up, Lincoln reminded the Union soldiers of their heritage—liberty, freedom, and equality. Rather than harkening back to 1787, Lincoln returned to 1776: the year of the Declaration of Independence.
The Battle of Gettysburg was a turning point. Lincoln began with the self-evident truths that Jefferson used to justify the American Revolution and our new beginning as a nation. Just as the American Revolution provided a new beginning, so did the Civil War.
“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,” Lincoln said.
The Union army was grieved by the physical loss of war, but their work was not finished yet. The belief in equality required a shared vision that must be nurtured—and this nurturing was active, not passive.
“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.”
Thankfully, our nation has made significant progress since the Civil War, and as Lincoln described, it was “a new birth of freedom.” Several years later, the Reconstruction Amendments were added, reminding the government and American people of the first principles of equality before the law.
Although we have progressed, Americans are still experiencing discrimination based on immutable characteristics of race and gender: Students are being restricted from competitive programs in Boston, Massachusetts; medical students are being restricted from medical residencies at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland, California; scholarship programs in Illinois target communities based on skin color, rather than providing equal opportunities for all; and an academic acceleration committee in Fresno, California, restricted students from applying for a mentorship program all because of immutable characteristics.
Pacific Legal Foundation is actively working to continue Lincoln’s vision, protecting the rights of men and women, people young and old, to create, build, and excel without discrimination.
As we remember Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, may this be a reminder of what many have bled and died for. We have the blessings of liberty because others have sacrificed their lives on our behalf.
Let’s be a people fit to carry on Lincoln’s legacy with greater hope and resolve.
