I had to memorize the Gettysburg Address in eighth grade U.S. history class, a tradition shared by hundreds of thousands of American schoolchildren over decades. I’m sure quite a few folks today think back on that forced memorization exercise and question “just why did we do that?” in the same way I now question why I had to learn about vectors and matrices in calculus class. But Lincoln’s famously short speech in 1863 reminds us all that we as a people are united by a set of beliefs about liberty and democracy instead of united by ties of blood.
But there’s something wrong in the way we remember the Gettysburg Address. Every time I hear it being recited, folks always emphasize the prepositions in the final sentence: that government OF the people, BY the people, FOR the people shall not perish from the earth.
Not to be a nitpicker (though it’s probably too late for that), but those prepositions are not what Lincoln would’ve emphasized on that autumn day over 160 years ago eulogizing the Union soldiers on that Pennsylvania battlefield. Rather, the key word used by Lincoln as a rhetorical device was “people.” That is government “of the people, by the people, for the people.” That emphasis isn’t arbitrary; it’s the whole point of Lincoln’s argument about the importance of our American republic.
Think back to Lincoln’s time. At 250 years, we are much farther away from the American founding than Lincoln’s generation was. To those 19th century Americans like Lincoln engaged in a great civil war, the founding generation were quite literally family; their parents and grandparents grew up hearing stories and debates on the meaning of the Revolution.
Four score and seven years into the American experiment, it seemed like the nation was crumbling. Then, Southern slaveowners refused to assent to Lincoln’s election, with many states refusing to even put the Illinois politician’s name on the ballot. Unlike in 2020, folks then did not lie to say the election was rigged; these Southerners just didn’t like who won, and instead of accepting the democratic results, they decided to secede and form a new nation. To Lincoln and millions in the North and South, this would not do.
We ought to remember that in Lincoln’s time, few if any places on the planet embraced democratic government. Then, nearly all of Europe was ruled by monarchies, and even in places where folks spoke of the hope of self-rule, democracy was in retreat. The democratic revolutions of 1848 that sprung up in France, Austria, Germany, and Italy were utter failures.
It’s why the American Revolution and signing of the Declaration of Independence, 250 years this July, was so important to Lincoln and his brethren. That revolution of 1776 gave “the people” real power for the first time.
Americans in Lincoln’s time were unabashed American exceptionalists, believing that their experiment in democracy could mean a much greater suffrage, albeit mostly for white men, than in any part of the Western world. They believed in this concept of “Union,” a concept almost unheard of in today’s political vocabulary, that at all costs democracy should be preserved. They believed America, more than any other place on the globe at that time, offered men a say in their government and the opportunity, not the right, for self-advancement, that they ought not be judged by the economic class of their fathers. It’s why so many risked it all to preserve the Union 87 years into the experiment.
Few would ever have predicted how much that experiment would usher in a new birth of freedom for Americans once marginalized, be it racial minorities, women, or LGBTQ Americans, for example.
That progress was never guaranteed, and it isn’t permanent. For many Americans this year, celebrating the 250th birthday of the nation might feel distasteful. In an era of rising American fascism, with its sole worship of power, a rising indifference to political violence and rollback of our rights and freedoms, what could there be to celebrate? It’s not really a solace, but I suggest thinking back to Lincoln’s words and trying to de-emphasize the prepositions.
Our future will depend on preserving the rights and liberties of “the people,” our now 340 million neighbors from every nation, creed, race, sexuality, age, and disability. Our union depends on it.
Happy Birthday, America.
Eric Gonzaba of Palm Springs is an associate professor of American Studies at Cal State Fullerton.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: As America turns 250, remember what Lincoln said about ‘the people’
Reporting by Eric Gonzaba, Special to The Desert Sun / Palm Springs Desert Sun
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By Eric Gonzaba, Special to The Desert Sun | USA TODAY Network
