One hundred and fifty years ago today, a tall thin man, weak and dizzy from an as yet undiagnosed case of smallpox, rose from a temporary platform to face a crowd of onlookers beneath a cold and drizzly gray sky. He was there to deliver “a few remarks” in dedication of an as yet unfinished cemetery. The previous speaker was Edward Everett renowned orator and the the main featured attraction that bleak morning.

Many of us are today well aware of the angry clash of vision which holds our government in deadlock between proponents of the two major political parties and ideologies. Conservatives and Liberals are more divided by staunch partisan hatred than at almost any time in our nation’s history. It is well to remember, that the last time tensions rose to these heights we embarked on a Civil war which devastated our country and claimed over six hundred thousand American lives.