150 years ago then President Abraham Lincoln attempted to sum up the meaning of the Civil War with just a few appropriate remarks. His words and his purpose were clear. Lincoln wanted to let the country know why we were fighting the Civil War and give it a purpose and a meaning. He wanted to bring the perspective of the war into the public eye and let people know that it was up to us, the living as he stated, to continue on with war and see it to it’s just conclusion.
Our forefathers did not give up on the war despite its great costs. They continued on with the war effort long after Lincoln’s speech and saw the war to its end. And the end was great. Not only did it stop four years of bloodshed, pain and suffering but it saw a new birth of freedom for millions of enslaved Americans. If Lincoln would have lived he would have seen the beginnings of racial equality in the United States and former slaves serving as Legislators. He would have seen them equal in the eyes of all.
Lincoln’s words, which expressed a new birth of freedom, still ring true today. And we have those that shed their blood and gave their lives for this new birth of freedom. And they saved our country. They saw that government of the people, by the people and for the people would not perish from the earth. America still stands today thanks to the brave deeds of these men who fought for the freedom of others and the bold reunification of these great United States.