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In reply to the discussion: ...and then a man rode through the lines bearing a white flag. [View all]KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)100. The "Gettysburg Address," imo, is one of the 2-3 greatest speeches in the
history of the English language, on a par with Shakespeare at his greatest. If you choose not to recognize its greatness, that is your right, of course. "New birth of freedom" applied (and applies) to all men (people), not to blacks or whites (or Latinos) alone. 1776 gave us one type of freedom. The battle of Gettsyburg helped advance an entirely new, more expansive, conception of freedom. Lincoln understood this. He never said the battle was over, nor that the remaining struggles would be easy:
The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it 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, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. (Emphasis added)
As for his consideration of the idea to 're-colonize' Africa with freed bondsmen, Lincoln showed no signs whatsoever (after the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862) of ever advancing that as the official policy of the U.S. "Re-colonization" was an idea in popular circulation at the time -- Lincoln certainly did not invent the idea -- and Lincoln considered it but ultimately rejected it. I would note in passing that the idea survived in different form into the mid-20th century under different names and guises (like Marcus Garvey's "Black Nationalism" or some of Malcolm X's and Eldridge Cleaver's considerations).
I'm sorry Lincoln leaves you 'empty inside.' You part ways with no less a figure than Frederick Douglass (whom Lincoln invited to the White House). Douglass would probably have preferred a more 'radicalized' Lincoln (much like many of us would have preferred a more radicalized Obama), as evidenced by his admiration of John Brown, but Douglass never would have said that Lincoln left him 'empty inside,' nor that Lincoln was merely a "pragmatic politician".
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Intersting thing about Wilmer McLean, who owned the house where Lee signed the surrender papers ...
Martin Eden
Apr 2015
#17
My great-great grandfather, Albert W. Gallatin, was also at Appomattox Court House that day too,
MgtPA
Apr 2015
#41
I've lived in NJ, NY and MA. Growing up, no one spoke of the civil war as such.
merrily
Apr 2015
#64
And brain-dead rednecks have been drawling ever since: "Th'Saouth will rahse agin!"
Aristus
Apr 2015
#4
I know. My heart goes out to everyone living in an oasis of sanity in that festering hell-hole
Aristus
Apr 2015
#54
That would make a GREAT bumper sticker, DFW. I wish that statement could go viral.
loudsue
Apr 2015
#96
I would say something but I'm sure it would break the TOS. And I do love MY South.
Lochloosa
Apr 2015
#26
Kind of like Jews v Muslims, Sunni v Shia, Protestants v Catholics, or black v white
world wide wally
Apr 2015
#6
Abraham Lincoln did NOT 'promise the immediate Emancipation Proclamation.' Lincoln proposed
KingCharlemagne
Apr 2015
#47
Lincoln was not an 'abolitionist' before being elected. Nor did Lincoln advocate for
KingCharlemagne
Apr 2015
#85
You are being extremely unfair to Lincoln and his record. I would suggest you start by
KingCharlemagne
Apr 2015
#84
The "Gettysburg Address," imo, is one of the 2-3 greatest speeches in the
KingCharlemagne
Apr 2015
#100
your values are defined by your behavior - nothing noble about fighting for slavery nt
msongs
Apr 2015
#19
Many (if not most) believed they were fighting for their homes and families.
Martin Eden
Apr 2015
#21
This could and should be its own OP, imo. Same could be said about American soldiers
KingCharlemagne
Apr 2015
#88
...and we have been fighting that war, in one fashion or another, ever since n/t
jaysunb
Apr 2015
#27
My great great uncle August enlisted with the 1st Missouri Infantry, Company A, mustered...
FailureToCommunicate
Apr 2015
#36
Yes, tragic AND ironic. So many rural small towns lost most of their able-bodied young men
FailureToCommunicate
Apr 2015
#111
That is one hell of a story (and one I hope you fine-tune and publish elsewhere besides
KingCharlemagne
Apr 2015
#101
Are you suggesting that the 'worst elements' weren't already 'radicalized' before
KingCharlemagne
Apr 2015
#104
Which two posts demonstrate that we're still fighting Reconstruction as well.
malthaussen
Apr 2015
#108
'Surrender your weapons, go in peace, and keep it that way'. Short and sweet.
FailureToCommunicate
Apr 2015
#109