GETTYSBURG ADDRESS: THE LIE THAT KEEPS ON LIVING – Commentary by Steve Scroggins

Sevenscore years ago, power-hungry tyrants brought forth onto this continent a new Empire, conceived in power-lust, fire and the blood of Patriots, and dedicated to the proposition that treasure and dominance are more important than principles or Liberty.

Now we are engaged in a great culture war, testing whether that Empire or any Empire so conceived and so dedicated can completely extinguish the truths of history from the hearts and minds of its conquered subjects.

We cannot dedicate---we cannot consecrate----we cannot hallow----this ground.  The brave men long dead who risked everything so that Liberty and the Rule of Law might prevail have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. It is our duty to vindicate the Cause for which they fought, to emulate their virtues, to guard their history and our heritage, and thereby ensure that future generations have an opportunity to know the true history of the struggle for Southern Independence.

The world will little note, nor long remember, what I write here, but it has thus far remembered what author H.L. Mencken wrote about the Gettysburg Address:

The Gettysburg speech was at once the shortest and the most famous oration in American history...the highest emotion reduced to a few poetical phrases. Lincoln himself never even remotely approached it. It is genuinely stupendous. But let us not forget that it is poetry, not logic; beauty, not sense. Think of the argument in it. Put it into the cold words of everyday. The doctrine is simply this: that the Union soldiers who died at Gettysburg sacrificed their lives to the cause of self-determination – that government of the people, by the people, for the people, should not perish from the earth. It is difficult to imagine anything more untrue. The Union soldiers in the battle actually fought against self-determination; it was the Confederates who fought for the right of their people to govern themselves. ---H.L. Mencken

Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address November 19, 1863. [The full text of it is appended to the bottom of this article.] Now, 140 years later, the bold-faced lie of a speech does live on as one of the best-known orations in American history.  I’d like to propose that we, that is, all American citizens, do something about that.

For many of you whose children attend government schools, my proposal may seem a waste of time. But I sense that the tide is turning on the “Myth of Lincoln.”  A number of fantastic books have emerged on Lincoln recently and more are on the way.  Syndicated Columnist Joseph Sobran is doing research, I understand, for a book on Lincoln. He’s a profound writer and if his columns on Lincoln, secession and the Constitution are any indication, Sobran’s book will be block-buster. In his October 30^th column, Sobran ended his column with the following statement.  “At Gettysburg Lincoln proclaimed ‘a new birth of freedom.’ What he actually brought the country was the death of limited government.”

Tom DiLorenzo’s book, The Real Lincoln, is well on its way to “classic” status.  I recently read that a high school history teacher (a brave one I might add and one we should applaud) has made DiLorenzo’s book required reading.  Let’s hope his idea catches on and the truth becomes fashionable again.

My proposal you ask? Oh, yes. Most of you, I think it’s fair to guess, had to memorize and recite the Gettysburg Address at some point in your school years.  I know that I did.  My oldest son did.  My wife did. My youngest son recently told me that his teacher uses the Gettysburg address as punishment. Those students who get in trouble are instructed to write the Address ten, twenty or some number of times depending on the severity of the student's infraction. For me, housebreaking a pet came to mind as this is analogous to rubbing your dog's nose in poop. But I digress.

My proposal is simply to take two steps.  First, make sure your children know the Truth about the War for Southern Independence and therefore they will know the lies inherent in the Gettysburg Address.  If necessary, allow them to memorize the speech, but as a second step, at least try to persuade the child’s teacher not to require his or her class to memorize a poetic falsehood.  Suggest other historical texts, such as the Preamble to the Constitution, or the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, or the first portion of the Declaration of Independence.  If nothing else, suggest the H.L. Mencken quote above as a substitute recital. More radical souls may want to take the issue to a principal or School Board.

If enough teachers start hearing that parents view the Gettysburg Lie for what it is, perhaps they will consider other material (within the constraints of their government mandated curricula) to avoid the hassle of parent complaints.

As the Latin motto "Deo Vindice” promises, eventually, the truth will prevail, but we need to help it along, where we can, to vindicate truth here on Earth.   Author John S. Tilley tells us, “The sword is mighty, but principles laugh at swords.  Overwhelming force may crush truth to earth but, crushed or not the truth is still the truth.”  Take a stand for Truth next time you hear an approving reference to the Gettysburg Lie.

If you recognize that we are truly in a culture war to preserve our Southern Heritage and you believe that it’s time to take the offensive against those malicious bigots who want to revise or erase our history, then consider this fact.  The Lincoln Myth remains a cornerstone of their propaganda mountain of lies. If we can expose the Lincoln as Great Emancipator mythology for the deception it is, the rest of the mountain of lies will crumble around it.

The day we get the Truth acknowledged by the vast majority will be the day we can realistically hope to restore the limited Constitutional republic that our Confederate ancestors struggled to preserve.

We here should highly resolve that our Confederate dead shall not have died in vain….that this Empire, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom…that our God-given rights and the government of the people…by the people…for the people, shall be restored. O

**Steve Scroggins is Adjutant of the Lt. James T. Woodward Camp 1399, Sons of Confederate Veterans, in Warner Robins, GA and a frequent GHC contributor of parody and political cartoons and graphics.

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THE GETTYSBURG LIE

Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon 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 battlefield 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 cannot dedicate. . .we cannot consecrate. . . we cannot 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

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