The chroniclers of the time say that Lincoln’s Gettysburg
Address surprised everyone in its brevity. His predecessor on
the platform, a well-known orator, took two hours to perform a
speech of 13,000 words, all forgotten. But Lincoln’s 300 words,
delivered in a few minutes, went down in history as containing a
definition, in just 11 words, of what a democratic government
must be. That definition was “government of the people, by the
people and for the people,” and is not just rhetoric. It is
still there today, enshrined in Article 2 of the Constitution of
the French Republic, which held its presidential elections on
Sunday. Yes, the 1958 Constitution establishes Lincoln’s triple
distinction, in the same terms, as the guiding principle of the
Republic. Thanks to Lincoln, everyone has a simple yardstick to
distinguish a government that is democratic from one that isn’t.
Government of the people because acting in the people’s name,
and representing its identity and aspiration; government by the
people of freely