LAST FULL MEASURE

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.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, 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.

Abraham Lincoln – Gettysburg Address

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Specie
Specie

A truly great speech, very moving words, and a great simplicity.

Too bad it was on behalf of a group that tried to prevent others from gaining their freedom

flash
flash

Empty rhetoric from a tyrannical war criminal.

More evidence to never trust the bullshit that flows past the lips of political whores.

Jackson
Jackson

When I grew up I thought Abraham Lincoln was our greatest president. I felt that way for decades. Then along came the internet where I was able to search and discover information that previously had been unavailable to me. As my job required careful analysis and evaluation of evidence, I think I got to be pretty good at separating b.s. from the truth, even after taking into account everyone’s point of view.

Most all of what Lincoln said in the Gettysburg Address is both eloquent and accurate. It depends on how you interpret his words. However, a question you might ask yourself is, given the Constitution and American ideals and principles, what group of soldiers do Lincoln’s fine words apply to?

taxSlave
taxSlave

Fuck his words – he was a war criminal – Can you say Sherman’s March to Atlanta?
He had a crazy wife and took it out on other people by denying the right to withdraw from the federal government.
He was wrong.

Hope
Hope

It is worth noting that the Civil War was the bloodiest conflict the world had seen up to that point. And the defeated South was then raped and pillaged by the Yankee carpetbaggers.

This weekend of Memorial Day remembering always totally bums me out. All those young men and women killed and maimed, all the civilians and their property destroyed, all that wealth ruined. And for what. So somebody can fly a different flag over a different bit of ground? So some government can claim “victory” over some people they have little or no knowledge of? And in the modern age, so we can keep the MIC humming along?????

I can’t stand it, I just can’t. I spent almost 4 years worth of my medical school and post grad training at the Houston VA taking care of vets from various wars. You just cannot understand war unless you have been in it. Hearing their stories and trying to understand their issues is a very poor and pale second.

Perhaps there are some aliens out there that will step in like objective referees and separate the warring parties and let cooler heads prevail.

Oh, the hell with it.

“Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war,
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.”

Seems to be the ground state of humanity, sigh.

Appalachian Trail Deblazer
Appalachian Trail Deblazer

You have to go to Gettysburg. See the terrain, the Union and Confederate positions.

I have wondered, what the hell was Gen. Robert E Lee was thinking. He didn’t have Jeb Stuart’s Calvary for timely Union positon reports and one of his Generals could have captured Little Round Top, but didn’t out of apprehension. As they say the rest is history.

The Southern troops had to try to advance nearly a mile or more of open terrain, under withering fire from Union forces on a higher ground. Just a couple of days before 4th of July, Imagine wearing woolen clothes in that heat.

All the Union needed to do was hold their ground and process the Confederates on the fields below them, which they did.

sensetti
sensetti

I submit to you that if a man hasn’t discovered something he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.
Martin Luther King Jr., Speech in Detroit, June 23, 1963

Zarathustra

I am from a family that has been in this country, on both sides, since before the revolution. My ancestors came to the Oregon Territory in the 1840’s over the Applegate Trail. Many are buried at the Pioneer Cemetary in Salem. When my last grandmother died in 1986 (she was in her 90’s), we had a gravesite ceremony there, in accordance with tradition. Afterwards I wandered this long closed cemetary and came across a “civil” war memorial. In the center was an equestrian statue surrounded by rings of graves of Oregonians who died in that conflict (on both sides). I was overwhelmed with emotion and just sat there and cried.

bigargon
bigargon

I actually have a ancestor that was in the union army he was a captain and was captured at Fredricksburg. He survived Confederate prison camps.

I have to disagree with Lincoln being a war criminal. he did all that was necessary under the emergency powers granted to him in the constitution and still faced a re-election in 1864. A dismember Union would have ultimately been a disaster ( in my humble opinion), with fractured, demoralized states susceptible to dictatorship or European interference. the Confederacy always suffered from a form of Schizophrenia Fighting for “freedom” while holding slaves.

The real problem was the US kicking the can on the slavery issue (not unlike Our modern economic and debt crisis). the real criminals we’re Stephan Douglas, Henry Clay and their ilk who came up with half ass solutions that only made the issue worse.

NOT bigargon
NOT bigargon

“I have to disagree with Lincoln being a war criminal.”

Then your a stupid shit head, FUCK YOU. Lincoln was a tryant and a war criminal and isnt worth the effort to spit upon.

bigargon
bigargon

(as I wipe the Monkey poo off my shirt)

[sarc] i am just overwhelmed by the logic of your argument [/sarc]

Bob
Bob

Jackson, one of the the tragedies of the Civil War is that the Constitution more or less supported the Union point of view, while the Declaration of Independence supported the Confederate point of view.

While the underlying state’s rights dispute was more or less resolved for 150+ years, it may resurface over the next decade or so.

SSS

@ bigargon, who said on the festering, pre-Civil War issue of slavery, “the real criminals were Stephan Douglas, Henry Clay and their ilk who came up with half ass solutions that only made the issue worse.”

I’m not so quick to point fingers at any one person or any number of persons. If memory serves, Benjamin Franklin implored the very first Congress to tackle the issue of slavery (Franklin wanted it banned). Instead, Congress kicked the can down the road and dithered around on the issue of how to address President Washington before deciding on Mr. President. Sheesh. It went downhill from there.

Drtypierat
Drtypierat

I judge presidents by whether they increase the power of their position, in this criteria Lincoln failed miserably. He might have done what waa viewed as right or necessary at the time but he increased the size of govt which increased the number of enslaved individuals in the US.

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