{"id":4688,"date":"2022-11-22T11:52:01","date_gmt":"2022-11-22T11:52:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/?page_id=4688"},"modified":"2022-11-29T13:35:46","modified_gmt":"2022-11-29T13:35:46","slug":"1864-year-of-decisions","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/course-syllabus\/1864-year-of-decisions\/","title":{"rendered":"1864 –Year of Decisions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Defining the “Mission of the War”<\/h2>\n
\"Wilkeson\"<\/a>

Sam Wilkeson<\/p><\/div>\n

In November 1863 in his now-famous Gettysburg Address<\/a>, Lincoln defined what he called, “the great task remaining before us,” in the Civil War, namely, “that these dead shall not have died in vain \u2013 that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom \u2013 and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”\u00a0 These key phrases were not entirely original to Lincoln<\/a>.\u00a0 In some ways, that was the point.\u00a0 They were intended to be evocative and unifying for northerners of all political stripes and for any loyal southerners<\/p>\n

But it was notable that Lincoln did not utter the words “emancipation” or “abolition” in his statement of national purpose.\u00a0 Thus, in January 1864, two leading radical voices, Frederick Douglass and Anna Dickinson, responded with a more explicit version of the war’s meaning.\u00a0 On January 13 in New York, Douglass reiterated his view that the “Mission of the War”<\/a> was an “Abolition war” and that there could be no peace but an “Abolition peace.”\u00a0 He openly criticized Lincoln for not realizing this truth, but conceded that the president had made some “progress” since his disappointing inaugural address in March 1861.\u00a0 Celebrated orator Anna Dickinson, age 21, spoke just a few days later at the US Capitol building in Washington DC regarding what she termed, “The Perils of the Hour.”<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0Dickinson offered more praise for Lincoln than Douglass had, but she, too, considered his words and promises during the war to have lacked power.\u00a0 For example, speaking of the Union dead at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, Dickinson asked, “But for what did they fight and for what had they died?”\u00a0 Then she provided a version of Lincoln’s answer from Gettysburg: “In order that, in the language of the President, ‘good government might not perish from the earth.'”\u00a0 However, clearly such a vow was not enough for Dickinson, who viewed the reality of the American Revolution as far from perfect.\u00a0 She added with deliberate emphasis:<\/p>\n

In 1776 our independence was asserted, but 1861 was the beginning of liberty. To-day we were fighting an oligarchy built upon the degradation of four millions of black men and eight millions of white men. Liberty threatened, had seized and wielded the only weapon of attack or defence \u2013 liberty. It was for slavery they were contending, we for liberty, and God save the right!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n