Gettysburg Address - A Pledge of Allegiance Appendex
Americans Pledge Allegiance to our Flag.
We place our hands over our hearts and recite... "One Nation, Under God, Indivisible...."
Yet, during America's brutal Civil War, this oath was challenged by confederate states that wanted to support an unsustainable way of life, using humans as slaves to provide labor.
This totally abhorrent social and economic system, reliant on Negro slaves, had to be destroyed. In the face of extraordinary adversity, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation to free the slaves. He prevailed in the Civil War, in spite of tremendous obstacles. Although the slaves were freed and the Union won the Civil War, Lincoln eventually paid for his hard fought victories with his life. Sadly, even in spite of the Civil War, the defeated confederate flag continues to be displayed in several states that were among those in the southern confederacy.
That's one reason why Americans need to remember and recite Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
As a result of his landmark Gettysburg Address delivered on November 19, 1863, I submit Americans should recite his words as an appendix to our Pledge of Allegiance. After all, our nation's indivisible union wouldn't exist without the enormous sacrifices made by those who fought to sustain our United States of America as a slave free nation.
President Abraham Lincoln's words on November 19, 1863 are as riveting today as the moment he delivered them on the battlefield where the dead still haunt those of us who study their purpose.
Lincoln said, "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."
"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all...." followed by 150 more words penned by President Abraham Lincoln:
"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 this earth."
We place our hands over our hearts and recite... "One Nation, Under God, Indivisible...."
Yet, during America's brutal Civil War, this oath was challenged by confederate states that wanted to support an unsustainable way of life, using humans as slaves to provide labor.
This totally abhorrent social and economic system, reliant on Negro slaves, had to be destroyed. In the face of extraordinary adversity, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation to free the slaves. He prevailed in the Civil War, in spite of tremendous obstacles. Although the slaves were freed and the Union won the Civil War, Lincoln eventually paid for his hard fought victories with his life. Sadly, even in spite of the Civil War, the defeated confederate flag continues to be displayed in several states that were among those in the southern confederacy.
That's one reason why Americans need to remember and recite Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
As a result of his landmark Gettysburg Address delivered on November 19, 1863, I submit Americans should recite his words as an appendix to our Pledge of Allegiance. After all, our nation's indivisible union wouldn't exist without the enormous sacrifices made by those who fought to sustain our United States of America as a slave free nation.
President Abraham Lincoln's words on November 19, 1863 are as riveting today as the moment he delivered them on the battlefield where the dead still haunt those of us who study their purpose.
Lincoln said, "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."
Therefore, I suggest, during this commemorative year, in honor of the day 150 years ago, when Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address, that Americans recite his short but eloquent speech as an appendix to our Pledge of Allegiance, whenever we're asked to say this oath:
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 this earth."
Labels: November 19 1863, President Abraham Lincoln, Star Spangled Banner
posted by Juliana L'Heureux | 2:19 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home