War is often a turning point in our history which needs to be honored understood and built upon for our pursuit of liberty and personal freedom .

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Abraham Lincoln

November 19, 1863

Our studies of America at war extended far beyond the fighting and the war itself. We also studied the effect that war has on the rest of American’s lives. This continued into the Civil war as many slave owners were enlisted to help fight, the slaves ran away to the north freeing themselves and Abraham Lincoln declared that once in the North these men and women were free. This and many other decisions made in war such as special field order 15, would pave the way for a new America. War has always seemed to be a necessary but unfortunate reality of our free nation but this unit has expanded that idea. In our independent war groups we studied wars of nation and industry these wars all bettered the nation in some significant way, be it an influx of jobs in World War two, a establishment of power in World War one or a significant gain in land during the Spanish American War. My artwork is a collection of the Gettysburg Address, a photo of the battle field that is now Gettysburg Cemetery and President Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg address. The idea of the effects of war transforming our nation were affirmed in the constitution which followed America’s victory in the Revolutionary war. The constitution stated, that American’s were a free people and for a black slave in Massachusetts named Mumbett; this meant that she too could be freed from slavery. It is impossible to argue that the freedom America gained from Britain as a result of the revolutionary war, had a direct impact on each of her citizens. From this war on however, how has war had a direct impact on the citizens of the United States of America? The civil war did emancipate slaves, but not with a clear link to the war as it’s driving cause. In the Gettysburg address however you see a clear link between the drastic measures taken in war, the enormity of the loss suffered by our soldiers and our nation's personal freedom. This direct link is often blurred to the eyes of the everyday citizen such as my peers and I . Upon studying the Civil War it is even more difficult to describe the war as revolutionary by any means, especially in the grand scheme of things as reconstruction failed and the principles we fought for in the Civil War were nearly abolished years after the war. This failure however does not degrade the work of the soldiers lying on the battlefield above. Nor does it question the motivations of our nation to enter the war. These principles may not be applicable to all of America’s experiences at war however. For instance in my groups examination of the Spanish American War America is overshadowed by their determination to gain more land, providing no room for the greater good or the freedom of our people. In World War one America’s call to action to defend herself and the rest of the world certainly stands for the same principles of what America stands for and what the President Lincoln's Gettysburg address stood for. As well as World War Two’s drive coming from the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor. There is a timeless message in the Gettysburg address that can be applied to each and every time America has gone to war. This was highlighted to me in the similarities between the Gettysburg address and President Bush’s call to action in the security council ready to declare war a year after the terrorist attacks on 9/11. The images above and the speech delivered by Lincoln serve as a reminder of what we as Americans have lost in war. It has been one hundred and fifty two years since Lincoln delivered this speech in a time when Americans needed hope and a renewed motivation for their cause. In these past years we have seen two world wars and several other wars fought by America, but the truth in these words is unwavering. America goes to war to defend her freedom and the fallen in the wars she has fought along with the men still fighting should be treated with respect. The changes made to our nation because of war are not to be overlooked.

Bibliography:

Lincoln, A. (1863, November 19). The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln. Retrieved March 21, 2016, (Public Domain) from http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm