MM#64--Lincoln's Request

Welcome to the theory to action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time to help you take action immediately, and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life. Now, here's your host, David Kaiser.


Hello, I am David and welcome back to another Mojo minute. Today's Mojo minute will be a brief history lesson. Because history is in fact important, despite what many academics and elites have to say on the subject. So this past week, on November 19, some 158 years ago, or 16th, President Abraham Lincoln addressed those gathered at the dedication of the Soldiers National Cemetery, which is on the property of the Civil War battlefield to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. And it was just a short four months after the battle had raged there in 1863. That he gave the speech. His speech was short. The previous speaker spoke for some two hours, then 16th President only spoke for some two minutes 10 sentences, he said, roughly some 272 words. 

But in those sentences, he captured the essence and the core of what was being defended in the Civil War, and why these hallowed men and women who gave their ultimate sacrifice of their lives, why they had not died in vain. And please allow me now to read the speech in its in its entirety. Because, after all, most Americans, especially those under the age of 40, don't know of this greatest of American speeches. Most have never read it. Sadly. Even more, most were never taught its context. What was Lincoln's aim? Why was the speech important? And so with that, let's read the Gettysburg Address together. 

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 have met on a great battlefield 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 this nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate we cannot 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 have, 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 those that from these have honored dead. We take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion that we here highly resolved that these dead shall not have died in vain. And that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom and that the government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not pay perish from the earth. Abraham Lincoln, November 19 1863. 

So as we reflect on that greatest of American speeches, let me pose a question. Have we lived up to Lincoln's request that these men have not died in vain? Something to think about.
Now, let's go back to the beginning questions, we asked ourselves, what was Lincoln, Zayn? And why was the Pete the Why was the speech so important? Well, to begin with, the Civil War proved to be more bloody, more horrific, more destructive than anyone could have imagined on either side, north or south. Lincoln begins to tie the constitution to the Declaration of Independence. And then a stroke of masterful genius. And the crisp and clear language he provides that leadership and explains what the whole Civil War is really all about in a bigger context. And right now and 2021, our country is extremely divided again. And part of that division is because we're extremely divided over our history. For the last two or three decades, most Americans have been reading history books, that paint the national picture of America as extremely flawed and broken from the beginning. I don't believe that, and most Americans don't believe that. 

But finally, we have a balanced American history book. And Wilford McClay is a land of hope, and invitation to the great American story that paints our national picture, as being a very good country, certainly with its blemishes and its birth defects. For as McClay puts it, there is much quote, to celebrate and cherish in the American achievement, unquote. And certainly there is but to understand America fully, one must not have a uncritical celebration, looking past those blemishes we talked about, because that, in fact, is the greatness of America, how we overcame those blemishes. And how in fact, by overcoming those blemishes, we are on our way to becoming a more perfect union. In here, may I pivot us back to Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address and allow me to read from the land of hope by Wilfred McClay regarding the speech, because McClay paints a great narrative. 

And so let's go to the book, quote. In a sense, what Lincoln did, in an address of fewer than 300 words, was to redefine the war not merely as a war for the preservation of the Union, but as a war for the preservation of the Democratic idea, quote, the government of the people, by the people for the people, unquote, which America exemplified in the world. As such, it reached back to the nation's beginnings. And that could the words of Hamilton and other founders who saw in America who saw in American history a larger purpose being carried out on behalf of all humankind. 

From its origins in 1776, it was to be a nation dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal language that Lincoln took directly from the Declaration of Independence. The current war, he said, was a time of testing for that idea, a time that have produced immense pain and suffering. And there was no end to it yet insight. But Lincoln urged his listeners to be awed and inspired by the sacrifice of the dead soldiers had all by the sacrifice that the dead soldiers had already made, and to resolve that this immense sacrifice would not be in vain and resolve that they would go forward to finish the work that dead men had begun and bring the war effort to a victorious end. And then conclusion, it quietly but firmly asserted that this work included the commitment that had already been made in the emancipation proclamation that the nation would under, under the providence of God, see, quote, A New Birth of Freedom unquote, emerge out of the sufferings. Boy doesn't. Wilfred McClay get it exactly right, with good and balanced history and very good language that gets everything exactly right. Lincoln with his speech, one of the country to have a new birth or freedom and most especially with the Emancipation Proclamation.

So again in today's Mojo minute, may I ask us the uncomfortable question that we asked earlier? Have we lived up to Lincoln's request that these men have not died in vain? Are we grateful for America? Are we grateful for her history? Do we learn it? Do we read it? Are we awed by it? Most especially, are we grateful for her freedoms, her liberties? Do we understand them? Can we teach them on to the next generation? And finally, let me close with how McClay describes Lincoln's speech and how it was received. Quote. 

Reports vary widely as to the audience reaction to the speech that day and Gettysburg. Some accounts suggest that it was overwhelmed by the much longer more elaborate and more learned speech by Ed Edward Everett, the former governor of Massachusetts, president of Harvard, US senator, and Secretary of State, others contend that it's jam like concentrated magnificence was fully appreciated on the spot. We can never know for sure. But we do know that it soon became regarded as one of the classic speeches in English in the English language. One that British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, known mean order orator himself, would years later call, quote, the ultimate expression of the majesty of Shakespeare's language, unquote. And so today, let us live up to Lincoln's request. Today, and every day,


thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoyed this theory to action podcast, be sure to check out our show page at T Mojo academy.com where we have everything we discussed in this podcast as well as other great resources. Until next time, keep getting your mojo on