A New National Address

On November 19, 1863, President Lincoln delivered the revered Gettysburg Address. The country was in the middle of the Civil War, the outcome of which would determine whether the United States would continue as a country and as an idea. Our currently troubled times bring forth similar anxieties about the future of our democratic processes and core values. Perhaps Lincoln’s words, with minor adjustments for today’s challenges, can guide us once again through troubled waters...        

Twelve score and one year 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 upheaval, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. 

Our history is one of great deeds and great sacrifice that this nation might live. Brave men and women, living and dead, have consecrated our land and we must never forget what they did. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated to the great task before us … that from their deeds we take increased devotion to that cause for which many gave the last full measure of devotion … that we highly resolve that their sacrifice was not in vain … that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom … and that a government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

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