Lincoln - Tasks

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 the earth.

*four score and seven years= four multiplied with twenty plus seven=87 *conceived=originated *consecrate=to set apart as sacred *detract=take away

The Republicans dominated the political scene from the time of Abraham Lincoln, while the losers in the Civil War, the Southerners, remained loyal to the Democratic Party and their political ideals. Anti-Abolitionism was a considerable part of the Democratic policy. African Americans embraced Lincoln and his Republican Party. After the Big Crash on Wall Street African Americans along with less privileged groups faced poverty and unemployment. This paved the way for a new era for the Democrats and the party gradually left their former beliefs. The Democratic president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and his New Deal policy were welcomed by these groups, but abhorred by the old aristocracy in the South. Whereas the traditional Southern voter now flocked to the Republican Party, African Americans and less privileged groups rushed to the Democrats. The Civil Rights laws in the 1960s ratified by the Democratic president, Lyndon B. Johnson (from the South!), secured African American votes for the Democrats. In the two last elections we have seen that this has not changed. African Americans, the Hispanic minority and women tend to vote for Obama - and the Democratic Party.

In our modern media world we know that looks matter, especially if you are going to attract voters. In modern presidential campaigns, which to a great extent are a battle contested in the media, we have seen that appearance is important. A youthful, attractive candidate will pick up more votes. In the late 1850s, a presidential candidate had to meet people and audiences in person and his picture would appear in the papers. Here is how Carl Schurz, a German American, describes his first glimpse of Lincoln; “homely, deeply furrowed, swarthy, haggard face…”, “deep-set, melancholy eyes from time to time illuminated with a merry twinkle”. He goes on: “Something about the man was ugly, even repellent; something else was magnetic, almost irresistible.” (Irish Times, February 6, 2013). This reaction was quite common; Lincoln’s face and appearance aroused strong feelings. Some journalists insisted that he was just too ugly to serve as president, whereas others felt deep affection and sympathy. His looks inspired artists and in particular, cartoonists, who loved making caricatures of his haggard, furrowed face.