These words were spoken by United States President Abraham Lincoln, who had the most difficult duty that any president, of any country, can ever assume upon himself. He accepted the duty of maintaining the unity of a country whose people were fighting each other with weapons.
Few men are capable of accomplishing this task, but he had God's help because he prayed to God frequently. God listens to people who ask for help with love and humility in their hearts.
President Lincoln spoke these words at the beginning of America's Civil War, a war that would eventually take the lives of more people than any other war that we have ever fought.
Because he became president less than a century after this nation separated itself forcefully from Great Britain, he was acutely aware of the stress that any large-scale separation can have, but he was determined to continue the great principles that were the reason for our creation.
The first sentence in the above quote is in the Bible. It comes from the 12th chapter of Matthew, verse 25.
Abraham Lincoln read the Bible because he loved God and wanted God's wisdom because he knew that his own wisdom was frequently inadequate for the solemn presidential duty that he had asked for and was now given to him by the votes of a majority of the American public.
He believed that no man was born into a better class of people than any other man. This one principle contradicted many of the basic principles of other countries, some of which had great influence in the world. India, a strong military power at the time, had a social system that placed people into four different categories. The ancient empires of Egypt, Assyria, and Rome all included slavery as a basic part of their societies. Great Britain, the home of a majority of America's ancestors at the time, itself believed (and still does) that some people are born into a class of people called "royalty". They are blood descendants of kings and queens. Some Britons believe that this makes them biologically different than the rest of England's population, who are called "commoners". Britain's royalty are sometimes called "blue bloods", to distinguish them from the commoners, who (of course) have red blood.
France, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Spain have all had kings and queens during their history. Some of these countries still do. Some of the countries in the middle east, including Brunei, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, still have royalty as an integral part of their societies.
President Lincoln had an opportunity to practice what he preached about the equality of every man, and he looked for an opportunity to speak out about it, possibly because the god he worshiped told him to do so. Immediately after a Civil War battle in the state of Pennsylvania, the area was the new home to hundreds of dead bodies. Both sides in this war had lost a large percentage of their soldiers, killed because of their hatred for each other.
President Lincoln, because of his love for God, hated the fact that some people were so angry at each other that they were willing to kill each other, thus violating one of the commandments that God had ordered all Christians to follow, but now people were dead, and he had a problem that he alone had to solve because he was the only United States President at that moment.
In the interest of maintaining the public health, Lincoln could not allow these dead bodies to become rotten meat, spreading diseases with the help of hungry wild animals, but because the Civil War was still being fought in nearby towns, he could not ask civilians to risk their own lives in order to transport these bodies to their hometowns for burial. Another fact he had to accept was the fact that horses, who would have been used in the transportation of these bodies, were often malnourished because local farmers were being shot and killed by soldiers. As I said, the Civil war was still being fought.
President Lincoln prayed to God for an answer to this very complex problem. As a Christian, he loved all of God's children, and he didn't want any of them to have their bodies desecrated by being eaten by wild animals or left to rot on the spot where they had died.
Abraham Lincoln made a decision, and it turned out to be the right decision. He decided to bury all of the bodies, from both of the warring armies, together in one new cemetery.
This was not an easy decision to make or to implement, partly because a large percentage of his own nation didn't even accept him as a legitimate president. These were the people who were fighting (with every weapon they had) to create a separate country under a different president, but President Lincoln's words were spoken with Christian love, and some people on the other side of that war recognized the fact that he loved God and that it was really God's words that were being spoken through this good man.
Soldiers from both sides of America's Civil War stopped fighting sometimes, and sometimes, the only reason was to observe Christian holidays, but this time, Abraham Lincoln, as a Christian, asked both sides to stop fighting, at least in this one area, long enough to bury some dead bodies. This request was granted by both sides.
The bodies were collected and brought to the place where they would be buried. During the time that the land was being prepared, with trees cut down and graves dug, attempts were made to identify the men's names, so that their families would know that these men would not be a part of their families any more. Time was running short, however, because many of the bodies were already decomposing. These honorable soldiers didn't get buried until four months after they died.
Requests were sent out to some well-known public speakers who could be suitable and available to make a speech that would dedicate this cemetery. One man, a well-known orator, accepted the invitation and began to write a typically long and inspiring speech. Strictly as a courtesy, the people who were organizing the task of burying the bodies also sent an invitation to President Lincoln, but they didn't think that he would be able to take time out from all of his presidential duties, including the duty of being the Commander-in-Chief of a fighting force in the middle of a war, would be able to attend the small duty of being present at a cemetery dedication.
They were wrong. President Lincoln did accept the invitation, and during the train ride from Washington, D.C. to Pennsylvania, he wrote some of his thoughts on the back of an envelope.
When it was time for the dedication ceremony to begin, the orator was introduced, and when he spoke, he delivered one of the best speeches that he had ever given. Today, nobody knows what he said.
Abraham Lincoln got up to speak, and his speech, written on the back of an envelope on a train ride from Washington to Pennsylvania and delivered after a Civil War battle named, as usual, for the town in which it was fought, was true to the principle of equality that Abraham had learned as a boy and had striven to teach as an adult.
This is the text of that two-minute speech.
"... a new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."
Copied from a page on the website Abraham Lincoln Online:
Directly behind the Lincoln statue you can read the words of Royal Cortissoz carved into the wall:
"IN THIS TEMPLE AS IN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE FOR WHOM HE SAVED THE UNION THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN IS ENSHRINED FOREVER."
As he requested, and because it is the right thing to do as a Christian, I dedicate myself to the proposition that all men are created equal.
It is wrong for any nation to put people into different classes. Since President Lincoln died, many of the countries that were doing it are still doing it.
It is still wrong.
Japan has had emperors for centuries. China has had emperors for thousands of years.
It is still wrong.
Since President Lincoln died, new philosophers have come and gone, preaching inequality as a means toward some other goal. These men included Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who collaborated on a publication called the Communist Manifesto which puts people into two categories that they called the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. They have both died, and the Soviet Union, created by passionate Communists after a people's revolt in Moscow (Karl Marx was in London at that moment), has disbanded, but their idea is still being taught by people who still believe in the goals that Marx and Engels believed in.
It is still wrong.
A few months ago, in this country, two men, at different times, were shot and killed by police officers. Their families and friends thought that this was part of an organized war conducted by the police because of the way that these men looked.
The families and friends of Michael Brown tried to start a large-scale war on the basis of their passionate hatred for a large group of other people, which is exactly what happened during the U.S. Civil War.
It is still wrong.
A house divided against itself cannot stand.
I, David Cain, dedicate myself to the proposition that all men are created equal.
My June 2012 essay The End of Racism says that there are no separate races of people. Anyone who disagrees with me is facing a contradiction. The essay proves it, and because I have proved it, there is no need to discuss this matter any further.
I wasn't yet born when President Lincoln gave his speech at the dedication of a cemetery that helped to unify and thus heal a broken nation, but I am now resolving, because he asked me to do so,
"... 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."
Amen, Abraham. Amen.
Few men are capable of accomplishing this task, but he had God's help because he prayed to God frequently. God listens to people who ask for help with love and humility in their hearts.
Because he became president less than a century after this nation separated itself forcefully from Great Britain, he was acutely aware of the stress that any large-scale separation can have, but he was determined to continue the great principles that were the reason for our creation.
Abraham Lincoln read the Bible because he loved God and wanted God's wisdom because he knew that his own wisdom was frequently inadequate for the solemn presidential duty that he had asked for and was now given to him by the votes of a majority of the American public.
He believed that no man was born into a better class of people than any other man. This one principle contradicted many of the basic principles of other countries, some of which had great influence in the world. India, a strong military power at the time, had a social system that placed people into four different categories. The ancient empires of Egypt, Assyria, and Rome all included slavery as a basic part of their societies. Great Britain, the home of a majority of America's ancestors at the time, itself believed (and still does) that some people are born into a class of people called "royalty". They are blood descendants of kings and queens. Some Britons believe that this makes them biologically different than the rest of England's population, who are called "commoners". Britain's royalty are sometimes called "blue bloods", to distinguish them from the commoners, who (of course) have red blood.
France, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Spain have all had kings and queens during their history. Some of these countries still do. Some of the countries in the middle east, including Brunei, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, still have royalty as an integral part of their societies.
President Lincoln had an opportunity to practice what he preached about the equality of every man, and he looked for an opportunity to speak out about it, possibly because the god he worshiped told him to do so. Immediately after a Civil War battle in the state of Pennsylvania, the area was the new home to hundreds of dead bodies. Both sides in this war had lost a large percentage of their soldiers, killed because of their hatred for each other.
President Lincoln, because of his love for God, hated the fact that some people were so angry at each other that they were willing to kill each other, thus violating one of the commandments that God had ordered all Christians to follow, but now people were dead, and he had a problem that he alone had to solve because he was the only United States President at that moment.
In the interest of maintaining the public health, Lincoln could not allow these dead bodies to become rotten meat, spreading diseases with the help of hungry wild animals, but because the Civil War was still being fought in nearby towns, he could not ask civilians to risk their own lives in order to transport these bodies to their hometowns for burial. Another fact he had to accept was the fact that horses, who would have been used in the transportation of these bodies, were often malnourished because local farmers were being shot and killed by soldiers. As I said, the Civil war was still being fought.
President Lincoln prayed to God for an answer to this very complex problem. As a Christian, he loved all of God's children, and he didn't want any of them to have their bodies desecrated by being eaten by wild animals or left to rot on the spot where they had died.
Abraham Lincoln made a decision, and it turned out to be the right decision. He decided to bury all of the bodies, from both of the warring armies, together in one new cemetery.
This was not an easy decision to make or to implement, partly because a large percentage of his own nation didn't even accept him as a legitimate president. These were the people who were fighting (with every weapon they had) to create a separate country under a different president, but President Lincoln's words were spoken with Christian love, and some people on the other side of that war recognized the fact that he loved God and that it was really God's words that were being spoken through this good man.
Soldiers from both sides of America's Civil War stopped fighting sometimes, and sometimes, the only reason was to observe Christian holidays, but this time, Abraham Lincoln, as a Christian, asked both sides to stop fighting, at least in this one area, long enough to bury some dead bodies. This request was granted by both sides.
The bodies were collected and brought to the place where they would be buried. During the time that the land was being prepared, with trees cut down and graves dug, attempts were made to identify the men's names, so that their families would know that these men would not be a part of their families any more. Time was running short, however, because many of the bodies were already decomposing. These honorable soldiers didn't get buried until four months after they died.
Requests were sent out to some well-known public speakers who could be suitable and available to make a speech that would dedicate this cemetery. One man, a well-known orator, accepted the invitation and began to write a typically long and inspiring speech. Strictly as a courtesy, the people who were organizing the task of burying the bodies also sent an invitation to President Lincoln, but they didn't think that he would be able to take time out from all of his presidential duties, including the duty of being the Commander-in-Chief of a fighting force in the middle of a war, would be able to attend the small duty of being present at a cemetery dedication.
They were wrong. President Lincoln did accept the invitation, and during the train ride from Washington, D.C. to Pennsylvania, he wrote some of his thoughts on the back of an envelope.
When it was time for the dedication ceremony to begin, the orator was introduced, and when he spoke, he delivered one of the best speeches that he had ever given. Today, nobody knows what he said.
Abraham Lincoln got up to speak, and his speech, written on the back of an envelope on a train ride from Washington to Pennsylvania and delivered after a Civil War battle named, as usual, for the town in which it was fought, was true to the principle of equality that Abraham had learned as a boy and had striven to teach as an adult.
This is the text of that two-minute speech.
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.
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 on a great battlefield of that war.
We have come to dedicate a portion of that field 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 cannot dedicate. . .we cannot consecrate. . . we cannot 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 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.
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 on a great battlefield of that war.
We have come to dedicate a portion of that field 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 cannot dedicate. . .we cannot consecrate. . . we cannot 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 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.
"... a new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."
 |
 |
Copied from a page on the website Abraham Lincoln Online:
Directly behind the Lincoln statue you can read the words of Royal Cortissoz carved into the wall:
"IN THIS TEMPLE AS IN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE FOR WHOM HE SAVED THE UNION THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN IS ENSHRINED FOREVER."
**********
As he requested, and because it is the right thing to do as a Christian, I dedicate myself to the proposition that all men are created equal.
It is wrong for any nation to put people into different classes. Since President Lincoln died, many of the countries that were doing it are still doing it.
It is still wrong.
Japan has had emperors for centuries. China has had emperors for thousands of years.
It is still wrong.
Since President Lincoln died, new philosophers have come and gone, preaching inequality as a means toward some other goal. These men included Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who collaborated on a publication called the Communist Manifesto which puts people into two categories that they called the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. They have both died, and the Soviet Union, created by passionate Communists after a people's revolt in Moscow (Karl Marx was in London at that moment), has disbanded, but their idea is still being taught by people who still believe in the goals that Marx and Engels believed in.
It is still wrong.
A few months ago, in this country, two men, at different times, were shot and killed by police officers. Their families and friends thought that this was part of an organized war conducted by the police because of the way that these men looked.
The families and friends of Michael Brown tried to start a large-scale war on the basis of their passionate hatred for a large group of other people, which is exactly what happened during the U.S. Civil War.
It is still wrong.
A house divided against itself cannot stand.
I, David Cain, dedicate myself to the proposition that all men are created equal.
My June 2012 essay The End of Racism says that there are no separate races of people. Anyone who disagrees with me is facing a contradiction. The essay proves it, and because I have proved it, there is no need to discuss this matter any further.
I wasn't yet born when President Lincoln gave his speech at the dedication of a cemetery that helped to unify and thus heal a broken nation, but I am now resolving, because he asked me to do so,
"... 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."
Amen, Abraham. Amen.
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