David Gelernter: Lincoln's Words, Our Pledge
The Pledge of Allegiance has been in legal jeopardy for years, all because it contains the words "under God" -- a phrase Abraham Lincoln stamped on the American consciousness when he used it on Nov. 19, 1863, 142 years ago, in the Gettysburg Address.
The pledge originated in 1892, was modified in 1923 and again in 1924, and most recently in 1954 when the words "under God" were added. In 2004, and again in 2005, a California atheist named Michael Newdow filed lawsuits claiming that it was unconstitutional for children to be asked to say the pledge in public schools. In September, U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled for Newdow. Inviting students to say the pledge violates their right to be "free from a coercive requirement to affirm God," he wrote. Presumably the pledge -- or at least the words "under God" -- will wind up being vetted by the Supreme Court.
One of the tragedies in all of this is the attempt to remove history's footprint from the pledge. The pledge asks children to state their allegiance to " ... one nation, under God ... " Lincoln spoke the words "this nation, under God" at the spiritual center point of American history. Today they remind us (or ought to) of how hard this nation has struggled and how dearly it has paid to move closer to its own sublime declaration that "all men are created equal."
Lincoln hated slavery. But he led the Northern states into the Civil War for only one stated, official reason: to hold the Union together by preventing the Confederate states from seceding. At the start of the fighting, public opinion would not have supported a war to end slavery. But as casualties mounted, the public's ideas shifted, and Lincoln felt them shifting. (As soldiers die in war, Americans raise their sights -- as they have in Iraq. If Americans are to die, they must die for the greatest, noblest cause the public and its leaders can imagine.)
In September 1862, Lincoln dramatically changed the war's character by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. As of Jan. 1, 1863, all slaves in rebellious regions of the country "shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free." Lincoln saw the proclamation as a first step. Eventually all slaves were freed by the 13th Amendment in 1865.
The Emancipation Proclamation "lifted the Civil War to the dignity of a crusade," wrote Samuel Eliot Morison, Henry Steele Commager and William E. Leuchtenburg in their classic history, "Growth of the American Republic." But crusades can succeed or fail. When the proclamation was issued, no one knew whether the North could beat the South and enforce the president's dramatic edict.
The question was answered on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of July 1863, in the bloody battle of Gettysburg. On the Union side alone, roughly 23,000 men were killed, wounded or missing. There was far more fighting ahead, but after Gettysburg there was virtually no doubt that the Union would win -- and at last be in a position to free the slaves and start on the long, hard road to justice and reunification.
The pledge originated in 1892, was modified in 1923 and again in 1924, and most recently in 1954 when the words "under God" were added. In 2004, and again in 2005, a California atheist named Michael Newdow filed lawsuits claiming that it was unconstitutional for children to be asked to say the pledge in public schools. In September, U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled for Newdow. Inviting students to say the pledge violates their right to be "free from a coercive requirement to affirm God," he wrote. Presumably the pledge -- or at least the words "under God" -- will wind up being vetted by the Supreme Court.
One of the tragedies in all of this is the attempt to remove history's footprint from the pledge. The pledge asks children to state their allegiance to " ... one nation, under God ... " Lincoln spoke the words "this nation, under God" at the spiritual center point of American history. Today they remind us (or ought to) of how hard this nation has struggled and how dearly it has paid to move closer to its own sublime declaration that "all men are created equal."
Lincoln hated slavery. But he led the Northern states into the Civil War for only one stated, official reason: to hold the Union together by preventing the Confederate states from seceding. At the start of the fighting, public opinion would not have supported a war to end slavery. But as casualties mounted, the public's ideas shifted, and Lincoln felt them shifting. (As soldiers die in war, Americans raise their sights -- as they have in Iraq. If Americans are to die, they must die for the greatest, noblest cause the public and its leaders can imagine.)
In September 1862, Lincoln dramatically changed the war's character by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. As of Jan. 1, 1863, all slaves in rebellious regions of the country "shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free." Lincoln saw the proclamation as a first step. Eventually all slaves were freed by the 13th Amendment in 1865.
The Emancipation Proclamation "lifted the Civil War to the dignity of a crusade," wrote Samuel Eliot Morison, Henry Steele Commager and William E. Leuchtenburg in their classic history, "Growth of the American Republic." But crusades can succeed or fail. When the proclamation was issued, no one knew whether the North could beat the South and enforce the president's dramatic edict.
The question was answered on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of July 1863, in the bloody battle of Gettysburg. On the Union side alone, roughly 23,000 men were killed, wounded or missing. There was far more fighting ahead, but after Gettysburg there was virtually no doubt that the Union would win -- and at last be in a position to free the slaves and start on the long, hard road to justice and reunification.