The History Book

244

GOVERNMENT

OF THE PEOPLE

BY THE PEOPLE

FOR THE PEOPLE

SHALL NOT PERISH

FROM THE EARTH

THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS (1863)

O

n November 19, 1863,

little more than halfway

through the American Civil

War, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania,

US President Abraham Lincoln

gave what came to be known as

the Gettysburg Address. In it, he

characterized the Civil War as a

struggle both for national unity and

to guarantee equality for all people.

Lincoln was talking at the

dedication of the Soldiers’ National

Cemetery, which commemorated

the 7,058 soldiers killed at the Battle

of Gettysburg, an encounter fought

between July 1–3, the same year

that had left 27,224 more wounded.

Gettysburg had been the bloodiest

battle of the American Civil War, as

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

The American Civil War

BEFORE

1820 An attempt is made,

in the Missouri Compromise

statute, to restrict slavery in

the new states to a line south

of the Missouri border.

1854 The Kansas-Nebraska

Act sparks violence in Kansas.

1857 The Dred Scott Decision

rules that even in non-slave

states, slaves cannot be freed.

1861 The Confederate States

are declared (February); in

April, the Civil War begins.

1863 In July, the Confederates

are defeated at Gettysburg

and Vicksburg.

AFTER

1864 Lincoln is re-elected.

1865 General Lee surrenders;

Lincoln is assassinated.

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245

See also: The signing of the Declaration of Independence 204–07 ■ The storming of the Bastille 208–13 ■

The 1848 revolutions 228–29 ■ The California Gold Rush 248–49 ■ The opening of Ellis Island 250–51

well as a turning point in which

the outnumbered, outgunned, yet

improbably successful Southern

army led by Robert E. Lee, the

Army of Northern Virginia, suffered

its first major defeat.

The causes of the war

The American Civil War was not

simply a war about slavery; it was

a war about whether so divisive an

issue could be allowed to break up

the United States. The United

States, as Lincoln said, was a nation

“conceived in liberty and dedicated

to the proposition that all men are

created equal,” yet its Southern

states had a population of almost

4 million black slaves. Under the

constitution of the United States,

they were legally owned property.

For the abolitionists of the rapidly

industrializing north—always

a minority, but still exceedingly

vocal—slavery was morally

repugnant and an outrage against

their Christian sensibilities.

However, slavery was not just

the backbone of the agricultural

prosperity of the Southern states;

CHANGING SOCIETIES

The Battle of Gettysburg took place

in 1863. After three days of fighting

and the death of more than 7,000

soldiers, the Confederate army was

forced to retreat.

Abraham Lincoln When he arrived in Washington in

February 1861 for his presidential

inauguration, Abraham Lincoln

(1809–65) was widely dismissed

in political circles as an ignorant,

socially awkward backwoodsman.

By the time of his assassination

just four years later, he had come

to dominate America. Lincoln

had not just won the Civil War,

but he had also established

himself as a kind of irresistible

political oracle.

Born in a log cabin in Kentucky,

Lincoln qualified as a lawyer

by his late 20s. He became an

increasingly articulate champion

of what would emerge as the

anti-slavery Republican party.

Despite having no military

experience, Lincoln proved

an increasingly shrewd judge

of how the Civil War should

best be fought, actively arguing

in favor of General Grant.

He never lost sight of his

wider aims: the maintenance

of American liberties and the

essential dignity of humanity.

He pushed on with the war

with unflinching determination,

yet he understood precisely

what loss of life on the scale

of the Civil War meant.

for slave-owning Southerners, it

was a right. For them, “liberty” had

an additional meaning: the liberty

to possess slaves.

The disagreement underlined

the question over States’ Rights—

the extent to which the rights of

individual states trumped the

authority of the federal, or central,

government in Washington. This

question repeatedly resurfaced as

territories in the west were settled

and sought admission to the Union:

would they be slave or “free” states?

The 1820 Missouri Compromise

stated that slavery would be allowed

only in new states south of a line

extending westward from the

southern border of Missouri. It

was later agreed that the settlers

of new states should decide for

themselves whether theirs would

be free or slave states—a decision

that was reinforced by the ❯❯

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