Inaugural theme: 'A new birth of freedom'

[sabra]

http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2008/11/inaugural-theme.html



The theme of president-elect Barack Obama's inauguration takes its inspiration from the Gettysburg address, Sen. Dianne Feinstein announced this morning.

The California Democrat chairs the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. Her statement says that:

"A New Birth of Freedom" commemorates the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. The words come from the Gettysburg address, and express Lincoln's hope that the sacrifice of those who died to preserve the nation shall lead to "a new birth of freedom" for our nation.

A transcript of the Gettysburg address itself is online here. President Lincoln ended the address with this:

"We here highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation, 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."