More than Memorization: Using the Gettysburg Address and Second Inaugural in the Classroom
By Philip Nicolosi
There is certainly no shortage of information or resources on our sixteenth president, Abraham Lincoln, but, as a result, teachers often have trouble selecting which resources they wish to use in the classroom. Time and curricular restraints only exacerbates the problem. While we find ourselves with this dilemma, teachers certainly agree that there are at least two core Lincoln documents that must be taught – The Gettysburg Address and Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address.
The classroom approach to these documents varies greatly. In some cases, teachers ask students to analyze them as historians might; in others, they use them to reinforce previously taught concepts and content. Sometimes teachers have students read them silently or aloud and then answer specific content questions about them. Other teachers have students memorize Lincoln’s eloquent words or make modern language translations. No one knows our students better than we do and no one particular method of teaching these documents is superior to another. Our goal remains the same: to help our students appreciate not only the importance of these speeches in American history, but to understand what Lincoln was saying and why he was saying it. We can achieve this by making these documents centerpieces in any US history course, rather than teaching them in isolation from the larger sweep of American history. They are too important to suffer the fate of many other documents used in the classroom whose words and concepts are flushed from students’ memories after the test.
Introducing a document like the Gettysburg Address at the beginning of a US History course will undoubtedly arouse student curiosity: why are we studying this Civil War speech when the topic is the settlement of Jamestown or the American Revolution? The answer lies in a theme historians often stress: freedom is an evolving concept, changing shape throughout our history. Asking students why Lincoln used the phrase “a new birth of freedom” could spark a conversation about how each generation defined that term and how we, in the modern era, are still struggling with its meaning. What can follow is a discussion of how our Founders defined liberty “four score and seven years” before Lincoln’s era; how Jefferson’s claim in the Declaration of Independence “that all men are created equal” took on a drastically new meaning that emerges in Lincoln’s Address; and what equality means in our world today.
Lincoln’s Second Inaugural offers another important opportunity. It allows us to make the critical point that historical events are not inevitable and outcomes are never certain. Students of history need to realize that hindsight is certainly in our favor. After the war, Lincoln’s intention was to pursue a policy of “malice towards none” and “charity for all.” The speech can also be used to provide students with some insight into Lincoln’s views on slavery and how he perceived it as a cause of the war and as a reason for divine punishment. From this rather brief address, students can gain an appreciation of the reelection challenge Lincoln faced in 1864 while the end of the war remained elusive. This lesson – that history must be read forward rather than studied in hindsight – will be valuable when the class looks at other historical decisions and their unexpected consequences.
Lincoln’s words hold a central place in our nation’s history. Using these two documents throughout the year in our classrooms not only teaches students about Lincoln, but also why history proved him wrong when he said the “world will little note, nor long remember” his words and deeds.
Image: Broadside of the Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address (The Gilder Lehrman Collection, GLC06044)
