Reading Questions

Introduction (97-8):

1. What is the etymological root of "nation?"

2. How did those in the South who seceded from the Union interpret the Constitution to legitimate their secession?

3. What was Lincoln's interpretation of the Constitution?

4. In what way was the Civil War a battle over whether we should say "The United States is." or "The United States are?"

First Inaugural Address (99-104):

1. When did Lincoln deliver this speech?

2. When Lincoln delivered his speech seven states had seceded but war had not yet broken out. He both refused to recognize the right to secession and tried to hold the Union together. Two issues that concerned the secessionists were slavery and states' rights. What does Lincoln say in his speech about both?

3. In denying states the right to secede Lincoln argues that the Union is perpetual. How does he justify his argument?

4. Look up the words "federation" and "confederation" in a dictionary. Lincoln describes the union as a "Federal Union" (100), and he speaks of "our national Constitution" (100) and "the national authority" (101). How is the authority of a federal union different from that of a union bound together as a confederation?

5. According to Lincoln, his duty under the Constitution is "that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States" (101). What, in practices, does that mean in terms of secession?

6. Lincoln appeals to "fraternal sympathies and affections" to hold the Union together (101). What else, other than the Constitution, binds the Union together?

7. When Lincoln uses the term "confederacy" (102), how does he use it?

8. Why does Lincoln equate secession with anarchy (102)?

9. What is Lincoln describing when he uses "country" (103)?

10. To whom, according to Lincoln, does the country belong (103)?

11. What is Lincoln's plea in the last paragraph?

Second Inaugural Address (105-6):

1. When did Lincoln deliver this speech? What was the state of the war when he delivered it?

2. As the almost certain victor in the war, Lincoln could have placed all of the blame for the war on the South. Does he?

3. Lincoln finds common elements, even as they waged war with one another. What are they?

4. Why, according to Lincoln, did God give "to both North and South, this terrible war" (106)?

5. What is the purpose of the last sentence of the next-to-last paragraph?

6. What is the purpose of the last paragraph?

The Gettysburg Address (107):

1. When did Lincoln deliver this speech? What was the occasion?

2. What event occurred "four score and seven years ago?" To which document does Lincoln allude when he says that the "new nation" was "dedicated to the proposition that all men were created equal?"

3. If the new nation was dedicated to equality, in what was it "conceived?"

4. The terms "brought forth" and "conceived" imply birth. Why begin a speech dedicating a cemetery for the dead with an image of birth? Are there other images of birth in the speech?

5. How many times in the speech does Lincoln use a form of the verb "to dedicate?" What are the different meanings of those uses?

6. In the last paragraph of "The Second Inaugural" Lincoln refers to the need "to finish the work we are in." In this speech he urges the "living" to be dedicated to "the unfinished work" of those who died. To what work does he refer?

7. In the last paragraph of the First Inaugural Lincoln appeals to the "mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone" in an effort to preserve the Union. In "the Gettysburg Address" what should the memory of those who are buried in the graves of this battlefield inspire the living to do?

Discussion Questions

1. Nations can be defined ethnologically as a people bound together by a common descent and language. They can also be defined politically as a people bound together by a common government. What are the various factors that Lincoln sees binding the American people into a nation?

2. Etymologically "nation" is cognate with nativity/birth. This root meaning would seem to emphasize the ethnological definition of a nation. How does Lincoln complicate that etymological association when in "The Gettysburg Address" he links the birth of the United States with dedication to the principle of equality?

3. In the Second Inaugural Lincoln acknowledges that slavery was the cause of the Civil War. Yet in "The Gettysburg Address" he never mentions slavery. Why do you think he does not? Even though he does not mention slavery, how does he allude to it?

4. For years, many people in the South referred to the conflict between 1861 and 1865 as the "War Between the States," rather than
the Civil War. What is at stake in this choice of words?