3rd Annual Shirley A. Mullen Lecture - Dr. Tracy McKenzie

"The Almighty Has His Own Purposes”: Lincoln’s Correction of the Gettysburg Address

Synopsis: Historians routinely pair Abraham Lincoln’s two most famous speeches—the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural—as if they are complementary halves of a single coherent vision. I will argue otherwise. In both speeches, Lincoln told stories which, on the surface, are about the meaning of the American Civil War. More deeply, they are stories about the meaning of America. Most deeply, they are stories about America and God. They are not compatible stories. We’ll explore together how this is so and why it matters to us today, when Americans are more divided than at any time since Lincoln spoke.