"Fourscore 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."
- Abraham Lincoln
The Gettysburg Address
November 19, 1863
In Lincoln's view, what is the meaning of the Civil
War? It's a test of whether the Founders were
correct that all men are created equal.
It's a test of whether people still cherish
liberty.
It's a test of whether the nation can live up to
its founding ideals.