In just 272 words, Lincoln synthesized America as an ideal based on the proposition that all men are created equal. In this narrative, the Civil War was fought to ensure “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
但还有一种国家“人”，由林肯在其葛底斯堡演讲中唤醒。在这篇只有272个字的演讲中，林肯将美利坚提炼成一个理想，一个基于人人生而平等命题的理想。在这一叙事中，南北战争是为了保证“民有、民治、民享的政府永世长存”。