Monday, November 18, 2013

'Tis the 150th Anniversary of these Most-Cherished Words

   These words are to be cherished, uttered by our 16th president 150 years ago tomorrow, Nov. 19th. Some would say his 2-minute address is the greatest American speech of all. If so, consider that it is much just the statements at the first, and at the end, on which the speech hangs much of its greatness.
   The whole speech is great, but more than the rest of it, just those two statements are so indelibly embedded into our minds, stirring love and favor in our hearts for this little address.
   Just 30 words to start, and 17 to close.
   "Four score 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. . . .
   ". . . that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
   In a different day -- our day -- perhaps Abraham Lincoln's final words would have been counted as plagiarism. I think they are not, but I note that historians see a foreshadowing of his words in the words of others. Some suggest the earlier versions of what he said may have served as source material for Lincoln. Perhaps the thought of government of and for the people spun down from one speaker to another, finally evolving into the words offered by Lincoln.
  There was abolitionist Theodore Parker of Massachusetts, who said, "Democracy is direct self-government, over all the people, for all the people, by all the people."
   And Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster had said the federal government was "made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people."
   And, before Parker and Webster, U.S. Chief Justice John Marshall said, "The government of the Union, then . . . is, emphatically and truly, a government of the people. In form and in substance, it emanates from them. Its powers are granted by them, and are to be exercised directly on them, and for their benefit."
   Of all versions of what was said, Lincoln said it best.
   Those three quotes similiar to Lincoln's are provided in an article in Wikipedia.
   (Post altered a little on Nov. 19.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Address#Text_of_Gettysburg_Address

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