When we all studied, or slept through, U.S. history in high school or college, we were presented with themes of American identity, politics, culture and the prophetic visions of our historical leaders.
To history enthusiasts, Abraham Lincoln is either well-tread ground or a genius whose full image has not yet been defined. In either case, Lincoln the man endures, as does his vision for and of a nation embattled.
Since April 2011, we have been immersed in a great war: The sesquicentennial of the Civil War. This conflict did not so much define American identity as it did solidify the traits that we now strongly associate with what it means to be an American citizen: Honor, freedom, virtue and justice. Defined by the founders and excoriated by our enemies, the essence of American identity can be presented in one of three ways: the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, the preamble to the Constitution, or the Gettysburg Address.
Here, embattled as we are in 2012, we do hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
We are still trying to form a more perfect union, to establish justice, and to ensure domestic tranquility. We must promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty for future generations. It is altogether fitting that we should pursue these ends.
Historically, the address at Gettysburg played little part in shaping the immediate direction or policy of the United States. But, if I had only one chance to explain what it means to be an American, I could do it in 269 words, a little less than two minutes.
Lincoln's vision wasn't complicated. It cut through the rhetoric directly to the point of our union in his final 17 words on that November afternoon 149 years ago: "that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
JEFFREY H.S. KNAACK
Albany