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ｔｈｅ Ｇｅｔｔｙｓｂｕｒｇ Ａｄｄｒｅｓｓ。「人民の、人民による、人民のための政治」という言葉で有名な演説。１８６３年１１月１９日、米国ペンシルバニア州ゲティスバーグの国立戦没者墓地の奉献式典で、アメリカ第１６代大統領エイブラハム・リンカーンが行ったもの。アメリカ史上、封筒の裏に書かれた有名な文書が２つあるが、この演説はそのうちの一つである（もう一つはアメリカ国歌『星条旗よ永遠なれ』）。
ゲティスバーグは首都ワシントンＤ．Ｃ．から車で１時間半ほどでの距離にあり、大統領の別荘として有名なキャンプデービッドもこの近くにある。
まずは、演説の原文を掲載しておく。
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― the Gettysburg Address ―
Nov.19 1863 |
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 battlefield 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 honoured 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. |
| （日本語訳は省略） |
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さて、有名な“ｇｏｖｅｒｍｅｎｔ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ ｐｅｏｐｌｅ，ｂｙ ｔｈｅ ｐｅｏｐｌｅ，ｆｏｒ ｔｈｅ ｐｅｏｐｌｅ”のくだりだが、実はこれはリンカーンのオリジナルではない。牧師のセオドア・パーカー（Ｔｈｅｏｄｏｒｅ
Ｐａｒｋｅｒ，１８１０－１８６０）が１８５０年の自著にて述べた言葉であり、自らの説教の中でもしばしば用いていたものである。１８５７年７月４日、リンカーンが例のくだりをメモし、後にゲティスバーグで用いたといわれている。
以下はパーカーの著作の抜粋である。
A democracy, that is a government of all the people, by all the people,
for all the people; of course, a government of the principles of eternal
justice, the unchanging law of God; for shortness’ sake I will call it
the idea of Freedom. |
(The
American Idea: Speech at N. E. Anti-Slavery Convention, Boston, May 29,
1850)
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もう一人、リンカーン以前に“ｇｏｖｅｒｍｅｎｔ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ ｐｅｏｐｌｅ，ｂｙ ｔｈｅ ｐｅｏｐｌｅ，ｆｏｒ ｔｈｅ ｐｅｏｐｌｅ”を用いた人物にダニエル･ウェブスター（Ｄａｎｉｅｌ
Ｗｅｂｓｔｅｒ，１７８２－１８５２）がいる。彼の述べた言葉も以下に挙げておく。
The people’s government, made for the people, made by the people, and
answerable to the people. |
| (Second
Speech on Foot’s Resolution, Jan. 26, 1830. P. 321) |
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