Gettysburg Address

[Wild Bill]

The use of 1776 rather than 1787 is very important in Lincoln's mind as it refers to the Declaration of Independence and "all men are created equal" and his concept of a "New Birth of Freedom" being initiated through the Civil War. I would suggest that analyses of the Gettysburg Address "line by line" can be found in Garry Wills, "Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America" and Gabor Boritt, The Gettysburg Gospel: The Lincoln Speech that Nobody Knows."

After all, Lincoln and the Republicans were going to change the Constitution or 1787 by amending it after the war, rather than junking it as many thought necessary. See Harold M. Hyman, "A More Perfect Union: The Impact of the Civil War and Reconstruction on the Constitution," especially his references to Major William Whiting's influential beliefs that the Constitution was adequate to the Civil War emergency if properly amended.