Gettysburg Address

"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 November 1863

What Lincoln is trying to promote is the idea that we are responsible for the outcome of the nation. Our forefathers have built the nation up, so what we do each day, politically and socially influences what happens in the long run. In other words, what we allow is what will continue. Being that the civil war is taking place at this time, Lincoln is zooming into the fact that the nation's citizens are resorting to war to justify the dehumanizing of slaves. If we cannot solve problems without lashing out, how can we solve problems? It seems we are scarring and bruising the nation rather than even justifying it. I chose this passage because it's true, people from the past have set us on the right path and the high road to make our nation a great success, however we are in a sense defying their hard work, it's time for us to rise up and be responsible.