The purpose of the Civil War, according to Lincoln, was “that that nation might live.” That nation is the nation referenced in the first paragraph – the one conceived in Liberty by the Founding Fathers and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Lincoln was at Gettysburg in November, 1863 to dedicate a cemetery – Gettysburg National Cemetery. But who’s buried in that cemetery? Lincoln tells us that the cemetery will be a final resting place for those who here gave their lives “that that nation might live.” Only northern soldiers are buried in that cemetery because only they died “that that nation might live” – that nation conceived in Liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Some Confederate soldiers were accidentally buried at that cemetery for a time, but were soon exhumed and removed to a Confederate cemetery.