As I noted earlier, the closing program at the Lincoln Forum was Ken Burns' key note address. Prior to the address, a Lincoln re-enactor recited Lincoln' speech to the New Jersey State Senate. The speech was made on February 21, 1861, the day that Lincoln spent traveling through New Jersey by train on his way to his inauguration. A very brief address its highlight was Lincoln's reference to the American victory over the Hessians at Trenton in 1776.
In these brief remarks the President-elect noted how much as a boy he had been inspired by Parson Weem's life of Washington and the story of those dramatic events in New Jersey. He went on to say that "the thing they struggled for," was "something even more than National Independence; that something that held out a great promise to all the people of the world to all time to come."
In his new book about this period, Harold Holzer calls this "one of the most remarkable speeches of Lincoln's entire journey -- arguably one of the most intimate and personal revealing of his career." He goes on to write that "In a sense it was Lincoln's most original address since the marathon at Cooper Union." In that case, Holzer argues, Lincoln relied on "law and precedent," now he was proposing a "new definition of American "civil religion," - "the idea that God shone special grace on the land conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."
I had read this speech before, but all of this gave me a renewed sense of its importance. And, perhaps to say the obvious, it is no coincidence that it happened in New Jersey - it happened here because of New Jersey history, specifically those ten decisive days of the Revolution. But that wasn't the only connection of the evening to New Jersey. In his talk, Ken Burns mentioned, as he has before, the importance that Michael Shaara's book, "The Killer Angels," played in his work. Quite simply Burns said, it changed his life.
I don't know if I was the only one there who knew that Michael Shaara is a New Jersey native and Rutgers graduate. Interestingly Shaara's book was rejected by the first 15 publishers that reviewed it. It was ultimately published by a small firm and Shaara was supposedly shocked when it won the Pulitzer Prize. One of the things that means is that two of the greatest novels to come out of the Civil War, "The Killer Angels" and "The Red Badge of Courage" were written by New Jerseyans.
On the surface we may think that New Jersey didn't play that primary role in the Civil War, but the above suggests the opposite. Thinking about the Lincoln speech gave me the idea that perhaps one of the things we should try to do for the 150th Anniversary is recreate that day in February of 1861 when Abraham Lincoln traveled through New Jersey. Recreate the journey and the speeches culminating with the reading of both of Lincoln's Trenton speeches to the State Legislature. Something to think about and food for thought for our 150th Anniversary Task Force.
In these brief remarks the President-elect noted how much as a boy he had been inspired by Parson Weem's life of Washington and the story of those dramatic events in New Jersey. He went on to say that "the thing they struggled for," was "something even more than National Independence; that something that held out a great promise to all the people of the world to all time to come."
In his new book about this period, Harold Holzer calls this "one of the most remarkable speeches of Lincoln's entire journey -- arguably one of the most intimate and personal revealing of his career." He goes on to write that "In a sense it was Lincoln's most original address since the marathon at Cooper Union." In that case, Holzer argues, Lincoln relied on "law and precedent," now he was proposing a "new definition of American "civil religion," - "the idea that God shone special grace on the land conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."
I had read this speech before, but all of this gave me a renewed sense of its importance. And, perhaps to say the obvious, it is no coincidence that it happened in New Jersey - it happened here because of New Jersey history, specifically those ten decisive days of the Revolution. But that wasn't the only connection of the evening to New Jersey. In his talk, Ken Burns mentioned, as he has before, the importance that Michael Shaara's book, "The Killer Angels," played in his work. Quite simply Burns said, it changed his life.
I don't know if I was the only one there who knew that Michael Shaara is a New Jersey native and Rutgers graduate. Interestingly Shaara's book was rejected by the first 15 publishers that reviewed it. It was ultimately published by a small firm and Shaara was supposedly shocked when it won the Pulitzer Prize. One of the things that means is that two of the greatest novels to come out of the Civil War, "The Killer Angels" and "The Red Badge of Courage" were written by New Jerseyans.
On the surface we may think that New Jersey didn't play that primary role in the Civil War, but the above suggests the opposite. Thinking about the Lincoln speech gave me the idea that perhaps one of the things we should try to do for the 150th Anniversary is recreate that day in February of 1861 when Abraham Lincoln traveled through New Jersey. Recreate the journey and the speeches culminating with the reading of both of Lincoln's Trenton speeches to the State Legislature. Something to think about and food for thought for our 150th Anniversary Task Force.
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