Cartoon Video: Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, If He had Been More Honest -- Decoded by Gary North
Nov. 29, 2010
At the ceremony honoring half of the fallen dead at Gettysburg, Lincoln delivered a speech justifying the slaughter. It became the most memorable speech in American history -- surely the most famous Presidential speech. I had to memorize it in the sixth grade in 1952, in the town of Marietta, Ohio.
We need to remember it for what it really was: a political speech. Political speeches are not noted for their full disclosure. So, I have re-written it. Here is the Gettysburg Address, decoded in terms of Republican Party politics in the fall of 1863.
Why go after Lincoln's speech? Because the speech misused language. He invoked biblical language to turn a battlefield into a holy place. "Hallow this ground" means "sanctify this ground." Why holy? Because of death. But if it really was holy, then everyone who died there had been involved in a holy cause. He did not believe this, nor did his listeners. The Wikipedia entry on the cemetary begins:
Gettysburg National Cemetery is located on Cemetery Hill in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Shortly after the Battle of Gettysburg, with the support of Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin, the site was purchased and Union dead were moved from shallow and inadequate burial sites on the battlefield to the cemetery.
He was invoking the holiness of the Republican Party's cause: high tariffs. As he said in his first inaugural address:
Then why the war? Tariffs. The war was not fought for a saintly cause. Furthermore, the South's cause was that of the American Revolution's cause: the legal right to secession. He was playing the role of King George III, yet he invoked the authority of the original secession. This was hypocrisy on a grand scale. The war was Lincoln's personal battle for centralized power in the North. It was a battle over taxation. He used the language of redemption -- holiness -- to justify the war. So did The Battle Hymn of the Republic. Voters should find this revolting. Sadly, most of the time they don't. Maybe I should say "haven't." Ever since Vietnam, this has begun to change. There are no more political orations at military graveyards. Bush did his best to keep photographs of caskets draped in American flags from being published. There is now a reaction against the idea of the holiness of war. This is a good thing. We need a short book on the major wars in American history and the political reasons why politicians took us into them. They were not holy reasons. The written text is here: //www.garynorth.com/public/7319.cfm
I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.
In doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or violence, and there shall be none unless it be forced upon the national authority. The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the Government and to collect the duties and imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people anywhere.