Want to Understand America? Study the Gettysburg Address
HomeThe American Idea › Episode

Want to Understand America? Study the Gettysburg Address

42:31 Nov 12, 2025
About this episode
America is, at its core, a nation founded on ideas, and those ideas have faced criticism, revision, and review over the centuries. Abraham Lincoln, who once said that he didn’t have a political idea that didn’t spring from the Declaration of Independence, not only reframed the meaning of the Civil War, but also pointed back to America’s Founding to assert what America should and could be in the future.The Gettysburg Address is far more than commentary on the Civil War; it was a critique of how America had, by 1863, let down the promise of the Founding, and how she could rediscover herself for a more glorious future.What can we learn from Lincoln today?Host: Jeff SikkengaExecutive Producer: Jeremy GyptonSubscribe: https://linktr.ee/theamericanidea
Select an episode
0:00 0:00