There is certainly no shortage of information or resources on our sixteenth president,
Abraham Lincoln, but, as a result, teachers often have trouble selecting which resources
they wish to use in the classroom. Time and curricular restraints only exacerbates the
problem. While we find ourselves with this dilemma, teachers certainly agree that there
are at least two core Lincoln documents that must be taught – The Gettysburg Address
and Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address.
The classroom approach to these documents varies greatly. In some cases, teachers ask
students to analyze them as historians might; in others, they use them to reinforce
previously taught concepts and content. Sometimes teachers have students read them
silently or aloud and then answer specific content questions about them. Other teachers
have students memorize Lincoln’s eloquent words or make modern language
translations. No one knows our students better than we do and no one particular method
of teaching these documents is superior to another. Our goal remains the same: to help
our students appreciate not only the importance of these speeches in American history,
but to understand what Lincoln was saying and why he was saying it. We can achieve
this by making these documents centerpieces in any US history course, rather than
teaching them in isolation from the larger sweep of American history. They are too
important to suffer the fate of many other documents used in the classroom whose words
and concepts are flushed from students’ memories after the test.
Introducing a document like the Gettysburg Address at the beginning of a US History
course will undoubtedly arouse student curiosity: why are we studying this Civil War
speech when the topic is the settlement of Jamestown or the American Revolution? The
answer lies in a theme historians often stress: freedom is an evolving concept, changing
shape throughout our history. Asking students why Lincoln used the phrase “a new birth
of freedom” could spark a conversation about how each generation defined that term and
how we, in the modern era, are still struggling with its meaning. What can follow is a
discussion of how our Founders defined liberty “four score and seven years” before
Lincoln’s era; how Jefferson’s claim in the Declaration of Independence “that all men
are created equal” took on a drastically new meaning that emerges in Lincoln’s Address;
and what equality means in our world today.
Lincoln’s Second Inaugural offers another important opportunity. It allows us to make
the critical point that historical events are not inevitable and outcomes are never certain.
Students of history need to realize that hindsight is certainly in our favor. After the war,
Lincoln’s intention was to pursue a policy of “malice towards none” and “charity for
all.” The speech can also be used to provide students with some insight into Lincoln’s
views on slavery and how he perceived it as a cause of the war and as a reason for divine
punishment. From this rather brief address, students can gain an appreciation of the
reelection challenge Lincoln faced in 1864 while the end of the war remained elusive.
This lesson – that history must be read forward rather than studied in hindsight – will be
valuable when the class looks at other historical decisions and their unexpected
consequences.
Lincoln’s words hold a central place in our nation’s history. Using these two documents
throughout the year in our classrooms not only teaches students about Lincoln, but also
why history proved him wrong when he said the “world will little note, nor long
remember” his words and deeds.
Image: Broadside of the Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address (The Gilder Lehrman
Collection, GLC06044)
|
