The Gettysburg Address

“Now we are engaged in a great civil war; testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure… and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.”

What Lincoln is saying here is that he is wondering whether or not it is possible for a country like the United States to exist any longer than it already has. This country was unique at the time, in that it was very diverse, very big and founded on the idea that everyone should have as many rights as possible. I have always thought that one of this country’s biggest problems is that we have too many people to please everyone at once all the time. The way of life varies so much that one man delegating over everything can be very challenging. A good example of this is the fact that there were several different opinions on slavery. It seems obvious today that it was very wrong and a big regrettable part of our past, but even back then it wasn’t as simple as pro-slavery versus anti-slavery. There were also moderates like Lincoln who were against the expansion of slavery but not trying to abolish it all together. Today we see him as being on the same side as men like Frederick Douglas but back then Douglas was very outspoken about being opposed to Lincoln’s views. These different views existed because life in the north was very different and did not rely so heavily on free manual labor because they were so industrialized. The south however was still very agricultural and while it did not actually need free manual labor to survive, they had been using it for so long that suddenly taking it away would change things drastically forever against the will of many. One problem with giving everyone rights is that everyone has an opinion that they can be open about and can take steps to try and change people’s minds. I agree that should be the case but in a country this big it tends to result in very strong polar opposite views on man key issues. I think Lincolns question is still relevant today. We are still very torn on most issues and always working against each other instead of getting things done. When it comes to going to war over seas, gay marriage, the right for a woman to choose, the death penalty, the teaching of intelligent design, universal healthcare and many other issues, this country is extremely torn. People tend to feel very strong one way or the other with very little middle ground and it reminds us the challenge of keeping such a large diverse country alive. Technically to this day, the people still have the right to lobby to have the laws changed to establish slavery provided the right people are elected to various offices. Obviously there are way too many people who oppose slavery to ever allow that to happen but because we have the freedoms we have, that path still does exist. This is one of the reasons some people feel the states should have more self-governing abilities and the federal government should go back to the more specific roles it had in the first place. Because there are so many different beliefs that stem from the different ways people live there day to day lives due to both cultural and geographic differences. Everyone having to freedom to work towards their own agendas based on those beliefs is what makes remaining united so challenging.