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 can not dedicate we can not consecrate we can not 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

"...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."

Ha! This is after he suspended the writ of habeas corpus, right? This is after he allowed the indefinite detention of "disloyal persons" without trial? Talk about speaking with a forked tongue!

While he did many great things, he was also the ultimate hypocrite as he ignored a Supreme Court justice's decision overturning his order and continued to allow new restrictions which, among other things imposed martial law in some border areas and curbed freedom of speech and the press throughout the Northern states. Roger Taney, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, issued a ruling that President Lincoln did NOT have the authority to suspend habeas corpus, but Lincoln didn't respond, appeal, or order the release of unconstitutionally imprisoned individuals. Instead, during a July 4 speech (no less), Lincoln was defiant and insisted that he needed to suspend the rules in order to put down any rebellion.

Five years later, a new Supreme Court basically backed up Justice Taney's ruling: In an unrelated case, the court held that only Congress could suspend habeas corpus and that civilians were not subject to military courts, EVEN IN TIMES OF WAR.

Lincoln gets credit for a great many things (deservedly so). But, he should also shoulder the blame for great transgressions. People love the spirit of the Gettysburg address. While his points regarding the hallowed ground and the memory of the fallen are well-spoken and applicable, his other verbiage regarding government of, by, and for the people should be read with the grain of salt which accompanies his hypocrisy on that particular subject. If he had omitted that last part from the speech, I would agree that it was a wonderful speech. Including that verbiage taints the speech with political irony and a sense of 'playing to the crowd without really meaning it.'

There was a national election in 1864 for the presidency in the middle of the greatest crisis our nation has ever faced. Lincoln not only did nothing to interfere with the electoral process, said nothing about putting off or avoiding an election, but was actively preparing to assist McClellan when it seemed like he might lose.

I see this stuff about Habeas Corpus get tossed around, and I'm not going to claim it was a shining moment in Lincoln's presidency, but if that's the worst he did during a Civil War, when rumors and panic were flying around across the nation, I'd say he did pretty well.