In a matter of minutes, President Abraham Lincoln made history at the dedication ceremony for the Soldiers National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on November 19, 1863, where he delivered to a crowd of 15,000 his famed Gettysburg Address–perhaps the most influential political presentation in our nation’s history. Having immediately followed a two-hour monologue presented by Edward Everett, Lincoln’s brief oration undoubtedly caught his audience off guard, certainly offering them insufficient time to process his message with its mere 272 words; it wouldn’t be implausible to assume that the speech was seemingly insignificant at the time to many who had heard it. The immediate term impact of the speech was certainly less than overwhelming.

Yet in the decades following Lincoln’s assassination, the Gettysburg Address became the single most important piece of political literature in America. Public school students across the country throughout the 20th century were prompted to memorize its text. It is worth considering the reasons for which this short speech had such a profound impact on the American people as a written document in subsequent years.

Commonly held to this day is the misconception that Lincoln drafted the famous address on the back of an envelope while on board a locomotive en route to Gettysburg on that fateful day; this couldn’t be further from the truth. Contrarily, the speech was an intentionally curated presentation that made careful use of messianic language and symbolism in order to impart a sense of national sovereignty. It can be observed from Lincoln’s infamous opening sentence onward–four score and seven years ago–that the eloquent formality and expressions found within the speech bore a definitive resemblance to the language of the King James Bible.

Several other similar instances of seemingly Christian imagery beyond the opening sentence can be observed within the brief document–particularly throughout the concluding paragraph. At this point in the presentation, Lincoln strongly promoted the continuation of ongoing warfare to save the Union, for which those who had died at Gettysburg had fought. Again invoking Christian language in his otherwise secular message, the President declares that in order that those who had fought thus far would not die in vain, imperative was it that “this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.”

This strong rhetorical statement–laced with biblical imagery of a second birth as well as the invocation of God as sovereign over the nation–served to convince Americans of the necessity and importance of continued support of the Union. It is clear that despite lacking any sort of direct references to the Christian religion, Lincoln manages to gain favor and credibility in the speech by rhetorically imitating biblical language.

The final paragraph closes with the words “shall not perish from the earth,” in reference to a government for, of, and by the people–thus concluding his aforementioned objective of establishing the importance of defending the Union cause as essential to maintaining such a system. This language further emphasizes the deliberation with which Lincoln crafted the speech using messianic language.🔹