Managing Shareholder at Technology & Entrepreneurial Ventures Law Group, PC
November 19, 2024
There is a reason that Abraham Lincoln is considered by many people to be the greatest American president who ever lived, or who will ever live.
We might suggest that Abraham Lincoln’s greatness as the President is because he led the United States through the Civil War (back) into unity with all the grit of a bull dog, “Hold on with a bulldog grip, and chew and choke as much as possible,” he said to General Grant. But there are many human beings, living and dead, who are able to do this at his level.
We might suggest that Abraham Lincoln’s greatness as the President is because he was an excellent thinker, philosopher, and writer, perhaps speaker, using inspiring words. But there are perhaps a few human beings, living or dead, who might be able to do this at his level.
We might suggest that Abraham Lincoln’s greatness as the President is because he was wise and clever, using machinations, feigns, and stratagems to achieve the goals that he considered to be noble. But we certainly know there are a lot of human beings, living or dead, who are able to do this at his level.
But I will suggest that Abraham Lincoln’s greatness is in his complex balance; that is, a philosopher might say Lincoln’s self-justice. Lincoln could do all of it, at the same time. President Washington could do some of it, but not all of it. A lot of people can do some of it, but not all of it. President Washington could lead and inspire, and even refuse a kingship, but George Washington could not express the mission with the timeless sublimity of Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln is in a class unto himself.
Without limiting Lincoln’s genius, Lincoln achieved perfection of speech in two places that should not be missed by any American, and more particularly any lawyer: The closing paragraphs of the Second Inaugural Address and The Gettysburg Address. The perfection is not only how Lincoln expressed his message with prose, but also the essential substance of the message itself. In these two expressions, we find Lincoln’s duality of necessity of war wrapped in love, ironically reconciled to perfect each other, rather than to contradict each other. Going no further than required to solve the problem, without creating a new one. War, but without hostility or meanness that perpetuates the war. War by strength of necessity, mercy by strength of choice. The virtue of a human being. Just a man, but an exceptional one.
On this November 19th, in 1863, Abraham Lincoln was invited to make a “few appropriate remarks” at the Gettysburg Cemetery Dedication. There is believed to be one picture (or perhaps two) of Lincoln’s presentation. The reason is that, contrary to the protracted entertainment speeches of the day, Lincoln’s introductory “remarks” were so unexpectedly short that the cameras were not yet ready to take pictures.
But, my gosh, Majestic Abraham Lincoln knew exactly what he wanted to accomplish at that presentation, in the largest sense. For something otherwise perhaps on the depressing and uglier side of life, by cause of war, Lincoln chose brevity with inviting, beautiful, elegant prose—of course, suitable and ready for complete re-publication and wide dissemination in newspapers. Some might say, “innocent as a dove and as clever as a serpent.”
Lincoln played the long game, as usual, concerning himself less with the live audience of the moment and more with the larger message, and timeless inspiration, for the ages. As usual, Lincoln was already at the next step, binding and unifying tomorrow. A lesser man would have pointed to the graves and condemned the causation, rallying battle from hate by the effect. “Look at these graves, what they did to us! Let us inflict retribution for our cause!”
Not Lincoln. Lincoln knew exactly what he was doing and why he was doing it, with perfect control. Lincoln inspired the mission, and he did it in a way that could be preserved for everyone, not just in the moment at the Grave Dedication. But, rather, a timeless dedication to life, calling for action, but action wisely directed to “the good.”
No one but Abraham Lincoln could do what he did, the way he did it, for the reason he did it. And I must confess that I am incapable of reading or hearing the Gettysburg Address without crying. It is altogether fitting and proper that perfection should do this. “It is for us, the living…”
Edward Everett, the featured speaker for the Dedication, later wrote to Lincoln, “I wish that I could flatter myself that I had come as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes.”
The following is part of the Abridgment Series, but is reprinted completely.
Fourscore 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 here on a great battlefield 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 this 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 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 shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Let us consider it further, understanding each reader will extract a personal interpretation:
Fourscore and seven years ago {87 years, no one talks like this to a live audience, if the audience is doing the math, then they are not listening; it is prose, specifically intended for timeless written reproduction}
our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, {a father for a child, implying a birth}
conceived in liberty, {conception as implication to birth, the “conception” process being liberty, double entendre metaphor of “philosophical conception” and “physical conception of a child”}
and dedicated {wordplay, this is a cemetery dedication, and so is the child nation dedicated and conceived; Lincoln is laying his foundation}
to the proposition that all men are created equal. {the higher purpose of the War, segueing the concept of “dedication,” dedicating a cemetery and dedicated to equality and justice}
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. {ties together “conception” (birth) and “dedication” (equality and the cemetery dedication), with the test implied by the War}
We are met here on a great battlefield of that war. {this is a place of the test by the War}
We have come to dedicate {again, “dedicate”; is it the cemetery, or equality, or both?}
a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that this nation might live. {something dies, so something lives, father dies so the child will live; “resting place” alludes to the future “struggled here” of the martyred soldiers}
It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. {purposefully abstract “this”; dedicate?, be dedicated?, to be dedicated to what? the cemetery, equality?}
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate – we can not consecrate – we can not hallow – this ground. {we cannot do more here to dedicate or make sacred; sure, we can “dedicate a cemetery” in the smaller sense only, but what is going on here is a dedicating in the bigger picture; and we don’t have real power to make it sacred with mere words alluding to “what we say here”…}
The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. {living and dead who fight, who act (not mere words), prove dedication to the larger purpose, the life mission; the act of martyrdom to the cause self-dedicates}
The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but can never forget what they did here. {prose of contradiction; but fighting, merciful, clever, Lincoln knows this short statement will be printed, completely, in all the newspapers, as alluded by the introduction}
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. {the climax: the living (not the dead) “rather” must be dedicated (we’re not talking about cemetery dedications anymore) to finish to the objective, to act, not just dedicate with mere words}
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us {dead is past, living is present and future, the dedication is not to a cemetery, but to equality and justice for all; Lincoln shifted the point of reference from past to the future, from the cemetery to the nation, from dead to living, from words to action}
— that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion {we are not just respecting the dead but also using the dead as inspiration and cause from their purpose in dying, the “last full measure,” being the martyrdom act of the soldier for the life of the nation; no one is talking about cemeteries or death as such at this point, Lincoln has just shifted, with sublime elegance, the entire message to the “good objective” that remains yet undone, from the past to the future}
– that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; {pressing that, if you love the dead soldiers and the cause for which they died, you must finish their objective and use life to complete their dedicated service, dedication not of the cemetery, but to the cause for which the dead nobly gave their precious lives; match their dedication with action}
that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; {oh, Abe, back to the nation, birth and conception, a new start with justice and equality for all, everyone; he’s already at the 13th Amendment}
and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. {it is not about dedication of a cemetery for death, it is about dedication of a nation for life with equality and justice for all, with the call to action so that the nation, so-conceived, does not die}
Behold it: Lincoln transmuted the “dedication” from the past, underground, a cemetery, dead, and words, into the future, inspirational, a nation, the living, and action. And he did it with sublime prose and without any speech writers, from his own heart, mind, and soul.
<< Back to Napoleon [#GRZ_213] – Cycle Forward to Hubbard [#GRZ_7] >>
© 2024 Gregg Zegarelli, Esq. Gregg can be contacted through LinkedIn.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/gettysburg-address-anniversary-abridgment-series-zegarelli-esq–3dxbe
#GreggZegarelli #Lincoln #CivilWar #AbrahamLincoln #SecondInauguralAddress #GettysburgAddress #Unity #Zegarelli #GRZ_217
<< Back to Napoleon [#GRZ_213] – Cycle Forward to Hubbard [#GRZ_7] >>