Gettysburg Address
Why Gettysburg and why now?
• Lincoln delivers his address on November 19,
1863
– Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3 1863
– Bloodiest battle in the Civil War
– Roughly 50,000 casualties
• Basing his speech on the idea most clearly
expressed in the Declaration of Independence
– “All men are created equal”
– United States is born on that belief in human
equality.
“All Men are Created Equal”
• Starts as a belief in 1776
• By 1860 the statement is an opinion that needs to be
proved.
• Most founding fathers see slavery as a necessary evil.
• Cotton is King: Southerners defend black slavery as a
positive good.
– Reinforces the economic system in place based on cotton.
Outset of the Civil War
• Lincoln prosecutes the war only to preserve
the Union.
• Not until 1863 and the war measure the
Emancipation Proclamation do war measures
change.
• Emancipation is the backdrop for the
Gettysburg Address.
Gettysburg Address
• Never mentions “slavery” or “union”
• Does mention “nation” and “new birth of
freedom”
• Also has concern for self-government
– Concerned that a government must be too strong
to guarantee liberties or too weak to maintain
itself
The Response
• Most northern Democratic newspapers
ignored the address or are critical of it.
• Do not take his assertion for “a new birth of
freedom” serious.