Freedom and the Civil War

Lincoln’s point in the Gettysburg Address was to provide a stirring soliloquy in dedicating a new military cemetery, one which would adequately recognize and honor the sacrifices given by Union soldiers during the decisive battle there. He strove to show that when the war has ended and the nation is reunited, that it will be “a new birth of freedom” (Freedom 300), and a fresh start for a young country willing to abandon its cruel practice of slavery and begin anew. In perhaps the most often-quoted part of the speech, he assures listeners that the nation considers “all men [to] be created equal” (Freedom 299), a direct reference to wording in the Constitution. He urges his audience to commit themselves to completing the task undertaken by the departed Union soldiers before them, “to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced” (Freedom 300) – in other words, to carry on the fight for reunification and freedom to all Americans.

His main point in the Sanitary Fair address was to illustrate the conflicting views of liberty held by the North and South. The North considered an expansive definition that applies to all people, while the South excluded slaves from their definition and considered them property rather than human. “With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men’s labor” (Freedom 307). Lincoln draws a cutting analogy by comparing the North to a shepherd who protects his sheep (blacks) from the wolf (Southern slavery), and the South as the wolf calling the shepherd his oppressor for not letting him be free to exploit the sheep for his own purposes. His secondary point was the promise an investigation of and “retribution” for the massacre of 300 black Union soldiers and their white commanding officers after they were defeated at the battle of Fort Pillow (while readily admitting that he had no idea what form that retribution should take).

Lincoln’s view is that the South’s definition of freedom is a more narrowly-defined one that only applies to who they deem worthy – namely whites. The North’s definition is more in line with that written into the Constitution, that all men are created equal. The Southerner insists on his own freedom to do what he wants with his slaves, as well as to profit off of their work while sharing virtually none of it with them. The Northerner considers freedom more of a blanket right that should be afforded everyone, including those currently in bondage.