- [Voiceover] So, we've been talking about
the Gettysburg Address which was delivered
by Abraham Lincoln on November 19th, 1863.
And as were saying in the last video,
it's been about three and a half months
since the Battle of Gettysburg when this speech is given
and Lincoln himself is not even the headliner
at this ceremony of dedicating this cemetery.
He is just supposed to give a few appropriate remarks
while the famous orator Edward Everett gives the
really bombastic, two hour long speech
that is going to rile up the crowd
and make everyone understand the importance of the battle
and the importance of the cemetery that is being dedicated.
But, somehow, the 272 words that Lincoln says here
in the Gettysburg Address has become one of the most
famous and important pieces of rhetoric
in American history.
So, in this video, I'd like to just take a little time
to read the Gettysburg Address
and to interpret it, line by line,
to give a better sense of what it's trying to say
and why it's so important.
All right, so let's see if I can do this justice.
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.
Wow, it gives me chills just reading this.
And there's just something about Lincoln's oratory,
the way that he puts things, that just rivets you,
and this is why he was such a great leader
and such a great politician.
Because, he knew how to use words to his advantage.
And he knew how to touch people
with what he had to say.
Now, it's more than 150 years later and we still read this
and memorize it in school and think about it
on kind of a regular basis,
because we frequently quote the words the he said here.
So, how did this get to be so important?
Well, let's read it line by line
and see what he's really saying.
All right, so, 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.
All right, well, this in case you're wondering,
means 87 years.
Four score, a score is 20.
In fact, some of the newspapers that printed the text
of this speech, just said 87 years ago,
So, why doesn't Lincoln just say 87?
Well, I think this fourscore and seven years ago
has this really strong, I would even say Biblical ring,
right?
It has this importance and eloquence of oratory.
So, he's already setting the tone to say here,
in this nation, we are measuring time almost Biblicaly.
Like this is a sacred mission,
and it's been a sacred amount of time
since the founding of the nation.
And I think it's really interesting to note
that it's only 87 years
between 1776 and 1863.
I know this is just basic math,
but between the founding of the United States
and the Civil War,
when the union fought for its very survival,
was less than 100 years.
It's a very short period of time.
Now, Lincoln as a young man, would have known older men
who had fought in the Revolutionary War,
Andrew Jackson for example.
So, Lincoln starts out by saying
that less than 100 years ago,
the United States was founded
and it was founded on this principle,
that all men are created equal.
Now, if you contrast this with the system of slavery,
which the South is fighting to preserve,
that is definitely in contradistinction
to the concept that all men are created equal.
So, Lincoln reminds his audience immediately
that the founding principles of the United States
were equality and liberty.
All right, so he moves on to say
Now we are engaged in a great civil war,
testing whether that nation,
or any nation so conceived and so dedicated,
can long endure.
So in less than 100 years
the idea that held the United States together
is now being tested,
and he's reminding people that the world is watching.
They're saying, all right, there's this upstart democracy
in the Americas saying that monarchy,
which has been the rule of Europe for more than 1000 years
is a silly proposition and they can do better.
Well, now look at them.
They're fighting a civil war because some folks
want to be the masters of others
and some folks don't think that's all right.
So, in a way, what Lincoln is reminding people here
is that they're engaged in this grand experiment.
Right, this grand experiment of liberty and equality,
where no one is the master of anyone else,
where any person, like Abraham Lincoln,
born in a log cabin,
less than a year of school in his entire life
can become president.
So, if the democracy of the United States fails,
if this union falls apart,
then it will have proved the doubters right,
that democracy doesn't work.
And then he continues:
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.
I think there are two important things here.
So, he talks about the concept of a nation.
And this is really interesting
because prior to the civil war, it was frequent
that people might say things like these United States
right?
The idea that the states are the most
prominent portion
of the country and that the individual states
plural, were together in a union that was
secondary to the idea of statehood.
But, midway through the war, Lincoln starts to use the word
nation more and more.
And afterwards, it will always be known as The
United States.
So, Lincoln is signaling here that
this is one united nation,
not just a collection of states and that is what
the American forces are fighting for.
That is what the forces of the United States
are trying to achieve, a united nation,
not a united set of states.
The other interesting thing here is that he mentions
it's altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
Why wouldn't it be proper to dedicate a cemetery?
Well, a lot of people thought that it wasn't proper
for Lincoln to be speaking at this ceremony dedication.
They thought that it was kind of a
cheap political maneuvering.
Imagine today if the president went to a soldier's funeral.
Many people might say it's not appropriate for the president
to be there because it's just a political opportunity,
right?
That you're trying to get votes
from somebody else's tragedy.
And it's kind of ironic, because Lincoln's speech here
is very sacred, very funereal,
whereas Everett's speech was very political,
saying this was a great battle, we have to remember that
the Confederates are our enemies.
But Lincoln's speech is much gentler,
much kinder, much more appropriate actually
to a funeral perhaps than Everett's speech.
But, he feels it necessary to remind people
that it is appropriate to gather here together
to mark the dedication of this cemetery
even though many might decry it
as just political grandstanding.
Now, I think it's this next paragraph
that makes the Gettysburg Address so powerful.
So, let's read it.
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.
So, he's drawing attention
to the importance of the battlefield dead.
He says this is not about us.
It's about them.
They have sacrificed.
They have become martyrs for this cause,
so we can not consecrate the cemetery,
they have already consecrated it with their blood
and with their sacrifice.
So, he's reminding everyone of the sacrifice
and the martyrdom
of the battlefield dead.
Now, here's the real power of the Gettysburg Address.
The last couple of sentences.
Let's read them all together.
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.
Well, what Lincoln does here is so powerful
because it's kind of a rhetorical switcher-roo.
He says we're not here to dedicate the cemetery.
The cemetery is here to dedicate us.
Men have died here and we must honor their martyrdom.
We must honor their sacrifice
for the experiment of liberty and equality
by taking renewed dedication to that cause.
So, come to the battlefield of Gettysburg.
Come to this cemetery
and take renewed heart in the mission
of continuing democracy, continuing equality
and continuing to fight for a United States of America.
And how the rest of those battles play out,
we'll get to in the next video.