On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln gave one of the most famous speeches in American history following the Battle of Gettysburg during the War Between the States. Whether you are fan of Abraham Lincoln’s political decisions or not, in that moment in time and in that place, he spoke words which are timeless in their sentiments. As I was recently re-reading these great words, the following thoughts came to me regarding the state of America in our day.
237 years ago, the Founding Fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the Proposition that All Mankind are created Equal. They understood that there are certain un-alienable rights which belong to every human being from conception until natural death. Such un-alienable rights may not be transferred from person to another person or entity, without the express permission of those to whom the rights belong, that is We, the People. Among these rights are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The government they created is not intended to either usurp rights or bestow rights. It can only have jurisdiction over that portion of those pre-existing rights which We, the People, allow them to temporarily control. We can take the power of government back at any time, and we can give them other powers at any time, through the process provided for in Article V of the U.S. Constitution, and through the principle of Civil Disobedience. Government, however, cannot lawfully dictate the Rights of the People by its own power—not by unconstitutional legislation, or by executive action, or through regulation and policy, or by judicial opinions. It can neither create rights nor destroy rights. Its one and only job is to protect pre-existing rights.
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” (Preamble to the United States Constitution)
Now we are engaged in a great political war, “testing whether this nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure”.
In the past 237 years, we have met our fellow Americans, as well as the soldiers of many nations, on many battlefields, both domestic and abroad. Today we are meeting those who are opposed to Liberty on the new battlefields of social media, controlled mainstream media, in the courts and on the very streets of America. We have strayed from our principles; indeed, we have been sidetracked by the very prosperity created by those principles. We have so much “free time and abundance” because of that prosperity, we waste ourselves and our resources by focusing on self-gratification and material things more than we value things of the mind and heart. When someone does stand up against the tyranny, we berate and belittle these new liberty warriors, those who take off their masks and refuse to obey unlawful and unconstitutional orders from bureaucratic servants. Yet, the very air of liberty we breath was bought and paid for, and is still being bought and paid for by those sacrifices made on not only the traditional battlefields but the modern social battlefields as well.
President Lincoln was speaking only of Gettysburg when 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.” But I say, we cannot dedicate nor consecrate, nor hallow this land of Liberty, our beautiful America, unless we pay the price the men at Gettysburg paid on both sides of that conflict.
Lincoln went on to say, “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.”
Another President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, from political party other than that of President Lincoln had some words of wisdom for us as well. He said, “There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.” Whether you agree with his political decisions or not, there is truth to be found here.
The cycle of American Liberty has turned again. We are the inheritors of the blessings of Liberty, but we are also the destroyers unless we can stop the insanity. It is for us and no one else, “The buck stops here” as President Harry S. Truman said. It is our generational duty to those who come after. We must be “dedicated to the great task remaining before us, we must resolve that this Republic and those who built it, sustained it, bled for it, will “not have done so in vain”.
Let us all humble ourselves in prayer, then put our shoulders to the wheel. Let us work however, and wherever we may best serve with the God-given talents with which we have each been blessed, in our homes and our communities. Only then will we experience “a new birth of freedom” and that this “government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” So help us, God.
The Gettysburg Address
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 battle-field 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 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 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.
Painting Note: Lincoln at Gettysburg, by Albion Harris Bickwell, 1837-1916. Lafayette College. David W. Coulter, Photography.
Thomas Jefferson, as the author of the Declaration of Independence said it best, ” 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.”
When the Constitution was finally crafted and Benjamin Franklin left Independence Hall in Philadelphia, he was asked by a woman what form of government had the delegates giving the new country. He answered “A Republic, if you can keep it”.
Liberty Principia 