Salutation to the Gettysburg Address!

[Bazza]

"...or any nation...conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal...can long endure. ...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." ~ Abe Lincoln

 

Today, the 19th of Nov (+/- a day), I celebrate one of America’s greatest sons, Abraham Lincoln and his Gettysburg Address. This short speech encapsulates the values he inherited from the Founding Fathers.

 

Earlier this year and for many months afterward, I've been interested in US history in a way I haven't ever been before. I’m still learning, reading, clarifying and verifying, a lot of this info. Chief amongst this, is what is referred to as the American System of economics (political economy) tradition founded by Alexander Hamilton and advocated by the likes of Henry Clay, Abe Lincoln, Henry C Carey, William McKinley, FDR, and others. I'm not sure yet if JFK was also a supporter, I need to find out more. 

 

The American System (AS) is an alternative to the Adam Smith laissez-faire economics, also known as free trade, and AS is for a “tariff to protect and promote American industry; a national bank to foster commerce; and federal subsidies for roads, canals, and other ‘internal improvements’ to develop profitable markets for agriculture…[f]unds for these subsidies would be obtained from tariffs and sales of public lands. (US Senate quote)” The system is also known as "Protectionism" and by federal subsidies we also mean government-regulated credit. Other features were an emphasis on the productive work of individuals (not money, trade, or scarcity of natural resources); and the empowering of individuals through education, creativity, and civilised work. The high protective tariff and land sales meant America could thrive without income taxation. It was the American System / Protectionism that enabled America to recover so quickly after the Civil War and become a world power; and is the system behind (so it is said) FDR's New Deal. Reading Elliot Roosevelt’s recollection of a discussion aboard the Augustus between FDR & Churchill, FDR favoured the American System. From what I can gather, the New Deal only started to fall apart in the 1970s in favour of free trade economics and the privatisation of public assets. In other words, these 1970 era policies undermined the Hamiltonian political economy model.
(https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/Speeches_ClayAmericanSystem.htm)

 

The American System spread internationally to China, Germany, Japan, France and Russia. As I am discovering, four of five of these nations were interested in extending the American railway line to not only create their own national railway lines, but to link them together thus having a transcontinental line from Europe through Russia to Alaska to America to South America, with goods obviously shipped via it. In China the chief supporter was Sun Yet-Sen; Germany was statesman Otto von Bismarck, and economic theorist Georg Friedrich List; in Japan was the Meiji restoration that industrialised Japan (at the expense of losing the cultural identity of its samurai tradition – bad); in France it was President Sadi Carnot; and Russia was a big supporter with Tsar Alexander II and III and other influential high ranking government ministers inc. Witte and Mendeleyev. Between 1865 and 1899 it seemed like there was going to be an American-led coalition centred around its values and political economy...before it vanished. Tsar Alexander II believed in a strong America that he positioned the Russian navy for months along the East & West coasts to dissuade the British, French & Spanish from entering the Civil War on the side of the Confederacy. This, he is said to have said, was done to directly support Russia's interests in seeing the Union prevail. Another reason for Tsar’s “friendly gesture” with the Russian Navy was likely due to America’s Monroe Doctrine foreign policy.

(https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/r/the-russian-navy-visits-theunited-states.html)

(https://archive.org/details/cosmopolitanrai02gilpgoog)
 

"…My politics are short and sweet, like the old woman's dance. I am in favor of a national bank. I am in favor of the internal improvement system, and a high protective tariff."
~ Abraham Lincoln, "Announcement of His Candidacy for the State Legislature. About March 1, 1832."
(https://archive.org/details/earlyspeeches18300linc/page/n19/mode/2up)

 

So this day I celebrate Mr Lincoln, his famous address, his values, the political economy he supported, and his steadfast adherence to his principles in what amounted to great personal danger because of them. I also salute both the Union & Confederate soldiers who fought at Gettysburg, which became, and remain, America’s heartbeat.

Thank you, Abe.  😢  #salutes

 

Spoiler

(This essay (of sorts) emphasises the historical aspects and avoids any current issues, of which there is some, to keep this celebration of history and economics. You are free to discuss other issues in the appropriate thread, or PM me with questions or additional sources of useful information.)

 

 

[Starlord]

Maybe the greatest speech in human history

[Bazza]

The structure of it, if you can say it has a structure, may be ‘borrowed’ from Pericles. I haven’t read it yet to make that comparison. 

[Bazza]

Edward Everett spoke before Lincoln and was the featured speaker at the event. You can read his speech here:

 

https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Oration

[death tribble]

Trinity United Church of Christ

59 East High Street

Gettysburg

PA

17325

 

That's a Gettysburg address........

[Cancer]

I am aware of Lincoln's address and its significance in American history.  In terms of the history of public speaking in world history ... I know far too little to comment there.  I have read the comparisons to Pericles that Bazza commented upon above, but that's about all I can say.  I don't know anything about the famous Greek and Roman orators.  I'm a bit more aware of (mostly) 20th Century speeches, but only ones in English.  Bryan's Cross of Gold speech; Churchill's 1940 speeches; a couple of FDR's; Eisenhower's Farewell Address; several of JFK's speeches (Cuban Missile Crisis; Berlin Wall speech; Moon speech); Martin Luther King's addresses; RFK's speech in Indianapolis after King's assassination).  Again, my perspective is chiefly an interest in their political impacts, rather than the rhetorical structures and tactics of the oratory itself.

[Bazza]

6 hours ago, Cancer said:

I am aware of Lincoln's address and its significance in American history.  In terms of the history of public speaking in world history ... I know far too little to comment there.  I have read the comparisons to Pericles that Bazza commented upon above, but that's about all I can say.  I don't know anything about the famous Greek and Roman orators.  I'm a bit more aware of (mostly) 20th Century speeches, but only ones in English.  Bryan's Cross of Gold speech; Churchill's 1940 speeches; a couple of FDR's; Eisenhower's Farewell Address; several of JFK's speeches (Cuban Missile Crisis; Berlin Wall speech; Moon speech); Martin Luther King's addresses; RFK's speech in Indianapolis after King's assassination).  Again, my perspective is chiefly an interest in their political impacts, rather than the rhetorical structures and tactics of the oratory itself.

 

This gives me something to look it -- eventually. 

[Bazza]

Here is to another year to remember this Address. 
 

and I’ve looked at one of Cancer’s suggestions. Hopefully I get to them before next year. 

[Pariah]

On 11/19/2022 at 2:08 PM, death tribble said:

Trinity United Church of Christ

59 East High Street

Gettysburg

PA

17325

 

That's a Gettysburg address........

 

 

 

On 11/19/2022 at 10:33 PM, Cancer said:

I am aware of Lincoln's address and its significance in American history.  In terms of the history of public speaking in world history ... I know far too little to comment there.

 

I'm rather fond of King Juan Carlos and his comment during Hugo Chavez's speech in 2007: "¿Por qué no te callas?"

[Bazza]

That was a good comment. 

[Bazza]

The Declaration of Independence is a declaration of independence from the imperial, empire, colonial and free-trade economic system. 
 

The Gettysburg Address provides a guarantee to the  Declaration of Independence. 

 

Both are underwritten by Hamilton’s Treasury Reports, commonly called The American System. 

 

When America has current policies that utilise the American System, then it realises the Freedom embodied in the Declaration & is guaranteed by the Gettysburg Address.