Gettysburg Address

[L Verge]

What Rob has offered us should be read in its entirety because it gives you plenty of food for thought on just what Union meant from the earliest days of the Revolution through the antebellum era. I particularly liked pages 14-19 and the changing thoughts of our Founding Fathers.

The Articles of Confederation did little to give the concept of Union legs to walk on. Our emerging political systems, economic ventures, etc. stressed Union - and then drew back as individual states (and smaller units) saw the concept threatening territorial issues. Manifest Destiny was certainly a belief that should inspire a united country to work together to move constantly forward, and yet, that Union faltered when slavery and abolitionism entered the equation.

It could be that Lincoln omitted the word "Union" on purpose, but I suspect that his short-term experience in the political world at the time he gave the Lyceum talk at age 29 may have given him no real basis on which to preach the ideals of Unionism. Maybe he just didn't think to use the word? Maybe he knew that the concept looked good on paper, but only really meant anything to the American people when a crisis came along? Unfortunately, it is now almost 200 years later, and many Americans only want a solid Union when it benefits them via security or money... but, I digress.