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Eric Farmer
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Bachelor's in History (college major), University of Colorado at
Colorado Springs (Expected 2024)Mon

How did Lincoln twist the words of the original Declaration of
Independence in a way that falsely represented America's original
founding principles and writings? Since lying is evil, what was evil
about the Gettsyburg Address?
How did Lincoln twist the words of the original Declaration of
Independence in a way that falsely represented America’s original
founding principles and writings? Since lying is evil, what was evil
about the Gettysburg Address?

Lying is certainly evil, but I would challenge the premise that the
Gettysburg Address ever contained any express lie and therefore cannot
be evil under that provision. While it did have some phrases that I
personally disagree with, and some concepts that I do not believe in, it
was certainly not a speech filled with lies.

In terms of the Declaration of Independence, and President Lincoln’s interaction with it, I would also say that he did not falsely represent America’s founding principles and writings. It did overemphasize a part
of it at the expense of another, but it was no lie, and he simply
presented his engagement with the text as an individual, which is
something every reader of that same document ought to think about.
Simply because he overemphasized something in it does not make it a lie,
and he did not outright refute the part that he deemphasized but instead brought a new, valid interpretation of it.


So, with that out of the way, let’s discuss what President Lincoln
actually said and how it tied in with the Declaration of Independence.
Here’s the first sentence of the Address (with emphasis added):

Fourscore 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.

President Lincoln first refers to the founding of the nation, as he saw
it, with the Declaration of Independence. A “score” means twenty, so
four score is equal to eighty, and then add the seven, to get 87 years
before the speech, which is the year 1776, the same year the Declaration
of Independence was signed. Here’s the part of the Declaration that this statement interacts with (emphasis added):

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.

The sentence quoted, verbatim, the premise that “all men are created equal”. This was, during the days of the Revolution, not a statement of equality of outcome or station, but rather an affirmation that every
person had a claim to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. The only contradiction here was that both the Union in 1776 and the Union in
1863 continued to hold slaves, but that is not a refutation of the
principle, but rather proof that the promissory aspect of the
Declaration of Independence had been unfulfilled. Now let’s continue
with the Address:

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or
any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure.

This part references that the Civil War, or War of the Rebellion, War of Southern Independence, War Between the States or whatever you want to
call it is still raging at this point. Of course it is, the Battle of Gettysburg had just been fought, and that was two years away from the conclusion of the war. The interesting part of this sentence though is
the charge that President Lincoln gives the war. This address gives the
real fear of the Union during the war, which is that if the South were permitted to secede, than it would probably result in the eventual end
of the Union, the end of the nation that held the principle that “all
men are created equal”, which was something openly rejected by the Confederacy. The Lincoln administration viewed this as a fight of
survival of an idea, the very idea that had played a crucial role in
founding the nation. This part does not engage with the Declaration of Independence at all, but it is important later on in the speech. Let’s continue:

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 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.

Here, at the main body of his speech, President Lincoln is again not
engaging with the Declaration of Independence. He is instead reminding
the people who had gathered with him that the war had cost many lives,
and that it would be wrong to think that there was anything the living
could do to further consecrate the grounds on which something like 8,000
men had been killed and 27,000 wounded. President Lincoln acknowledged
the bravery of the men that contested the field at Gettysburg, both
Union and Confederate, and spoke what he felt to be the truth, that
people might very well forget the words spoken after the Battle of
Gettysburg, but they could not forget the Battle of Gettysburg. In this,
he was half right, as Americans learn of the Battle of Gettysburg in
virtually all of our school systems, but we also remember his Address,
although most do not know the words of Edward Everett, whose speech
preceded President Lincoln’s. Now we get to the one part that may have
some legitimate disagreement with, although it is clearly not a lie. So
let’s get to that (again emphasis added).

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, 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.

In this part, President Lincoln gives a charge to those who gathered on
that once-bloody field. To honor the dead, they must continue to support
the cause for which the Union men had died for, and ensure that the
Union experienced its “new birth of freedom”, and “that government of
the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the
earth”. Remember that second sentence in which he articulated that he
viewed this struggle as a struggle for the survival of the Union, and
the only true government that ruled under the guidance of the Founding
Fathers? In this last, powerful sentence, President Lincoln is simply referencing that, and hoping that the “new birth of freedom”, in which
the Union would once again be a united whole under the Federal
government elected by the people, would guarantee that system of
government’s survival. The only part of the Declaration of Independence
that this could be construed to go against is this part:

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.

The Civil War was about the United States rejected the secession of the Southern States, which was a legal (or illegal) proceeding that
dissolved the Union between whichever State seceded and the Federal
government. In the Confederacy’s case, the secession was prompted by
their State governing apparatuses, by the election of their people. In
short, the Confederacy was arguing that because their legislative
bodies, duly elected, clearly ruled by the consent of their people, that
they (the Southern States) were then able to withdraw their consent for
the Federal government, altering their government under the principles enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. So, when President Lincoln remarked that he hoped that “government of the people, for the people,
by the people” would not perish, there is legitimate argument that his interpretation was incorrect and hypocritical, but it was not a lie, and
not evil.

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