With the recent historical presidential race, the country finds its focus once more on Illinois, the land of Lincoln.

“…government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”-Abraham Lincoln

This focus is apt given the president elect’s transition website evokes Lincoln’s own words: “of the people by the people” when asking for suggestions of how to move the country past this, the most trying of times. On November 19, 1863, these words were uttered for the first time on a battlefield in Pennsylvania where the then president Abraham Lincoln gave his famous speech, now known as the Gettysburg Address.

The speech that day was meant as nothing more than a reminder of trying times past and trying times ahead and the importance of not only remembering lost soldiers but carrying forward the battle of democracy for everyone. Somehow Lincoln’s choice of phrase, perhaps coupled with the somber setting created memorable words that so many have used since to explain what is so uniquely American about American democracy.

“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.”

Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln became president in 1860, just before the Civil War (1861-1865) engaged the entire nation in a battle ostensibly about slavery but ultimately about unity and what it meant to live up to American ideals. Lincoln was a republican who had served previously in the Illinois legislature and rallied the nation around the concept that even to speak of succession from the union was a criminal offense and that he would fight to defend the union of the United States.

Major General Ulysses S. Grant headed the union troops and General Robert E. Lee was in charge of the confederates and most fighting during the war took place in the southern states and in the lower eastern states. In total, approximately three million were involved in the fight and the term civil war is most appropriate due to the fact that in many households, it was brother against brother; torn apart because of their desire to secede and their desire to stay part of the union and bring an end to slavery. It was a long and bloody conflict.

Lincoln made many unpopular decisions during the four years of the war, mostly angering southern diehards who could not accept that in order for America to move forward, slavery had to end and everyone had to stand for the union. Lincoln blocked southern ports, hires and fires commanders, free slaves through the emancipation proclamation and enacted a draft forcing people to serve in the army.

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In April of 1865, just days after the south surrendered, Lincoln would be assassinated while he watched a performance of ‘Our American Cousin’ at the Ford Theater with his wife. Mrs. Lincoln’s loss was felt across the country as the Civil War gave way to the era of reconstruction and a time of uncomfortable change across the nation. But it was that day in November at the dedication of a military cemetery that Lincoln’s long lasting legacy was solidified. Over 620,000 American soldiers died in the Civil War and the desire for their deaths not to be in vain was another part of that

memorable speech. Strong words may have proved stronger than bullets as America has yet to face such a calamitous event since. But the words of the Gettysburg Address have influenced history, politics and American democracy for over a century.

Reminders abound daily about the importance of learning history and standing up for the American way of life. As November 19 approaches, it seems appropriate to remember the origin of a people’s government and how the sentiment behind it has not only inspired during times of war, but also during times of peace. After all, it is the people that create the change that good speeches can inspire.

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