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You are here: Home / Politics / America / President Lincoln’s July 7, 1863 Independence Day Address

President Lincoln’s July 7, 1863 Independence Day Address

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President Lincoln made remarks on Independence Day in 1863 on the 7th of July. While he issued a brief statement on the 4th that referenced the Army of the Potomac’s victory at Gettysburg, he delayed making an address until the 7th because he was concerned about the outcome of the Vicksburg campaign. You will find within his brief statement themes that he eventually developed more fully in his Gettysburg Address delivered in November of 1863. Here are President Lincoln’s remarks on American Independence delivered on 7 July 1863 and sometimes referred to as the Response to a Serenade.

Fellow-citizens: I am very glad to see you to-night. But yet I will not say I thank you for this call. But I do most sincerely thank Almighty God for the occasion on which you have called. [Cheers.] How long ago is it? Eighty odd years since, upon the Fourth day of July, for the first time in the world, a union body of representatives was assembled to declare as a self-evident truth that all men were created equal. [Cheers.]That was the birthday of the United States of America. Since then the fourth day of July has had several very peculiar recognitions. The two most distinguished men who framed and supported that paper, including the particular declaration I have mentioned, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, the one having framed it, and the other sustained it most ably in debate, the only two of the fifty-five or fifty-six who signed it, I believe, who were ever President of the United States, precisely fifty years after they put their hands to that paper it pleased the Almighty God to take away from this stage of action on the Fourth of July. This extraordinary coincidence we can understand to be a dispensation of the Almighty Ruler of Events.

Another of our Presidents, five years afterwards, was called from this stage of existence on the same day of the month, and now on this Fourth of July just past, when a gigantic rebellion has risen in the land, precisely at the bottom of which is an effort to overthrow that principle “that all men are created equal,” we have a surrender of one of their most powerful positions and powerful armies forced upon them on that very day. [Cheers.] And I see in the succession of battles in Pennsylvania, which continued three days, so rapidly following each other as to be justly called one great battle, fought on the first, second and third of July; on the fourth the enemies of the declaration that all men are created equal had to turn tail and run. [Laughter and applause.]

Gentlemen, this is a glorious theme and a glorious occasion for a speech, but I am not prepared to make one worthy of the theme and worthy of the occasion. [Cries of “go on,” and applause.] I would like to speak in all praise that is due to the the [sic] many brave officers and soldiers who have fought in the cause of the Union and liberties of this country from the beginning of this war, not on occasions of success, but upon the more trying occasions of the want of success. I say I would like to speak in praise of these men, particularizing their deeds, but I am unprepared. I should dislike to mention the name of a single officer, lest in doing so I wrong some other one whose name may not occur to me. [Cheers.]

Recent events bring up certain names, gallantly prominent, but I do not want to particularly name them at the expense of others, who are as justly entitled to our gratitude as they. I therefore do not upon this occasion name a single man. And now I have said about as much as I ought to say in this impromptu manner, and if you please, I’ll take the music. [Tremendous cheering, and calls for the President to reappear.]

Reader Interactions

76Comments

  2. 2.

    zhena gogolia

    “the more trying occasions of the want of success”

    Indeed. Let us take these words to heart and be courageous.

  3. 3.

    Betty

    “The enemies of the declaration that all men are created equal.” They continue to this day, encouraged on by cynical politicians and their”Southern Strategy” that is, of course, not limited to the South. May the spirit of Abe Lincon haunt their dreams.

  5. 5.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Another of our Presidents, five years afterwards, was called from this stage of existence on the same day of the month,

    Of course I’ve known more or less forever that Adams and Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826, but had no idea that Monroe died on the same date, five years later. Thank you, President Lincoln, for bringing that fact to my notice.

    But while three U.S. Presidents died on July 4, only one has had a July 4 birthday — Calvin Coolidge (b. 1872).

  6. 6.

    germy

    And I see in the succession of battles in Pennsylvania, which continued three days, so rapidly following each other as to be justly called one great battle, fought on the first, second and third of July; on the fourth the enemies of the declaration that all men are created equal had to turn tail and run. [Laughter and applause.]

    Great quote.

  7. 7.

    Booger

    Jeeze these guys go on without a 140-character limit, don’t they? What’s with the whole noun-verb ‘complete sentence’ stuff? SAD! #verbose #whoyoutryintoimpress #TLDR

  8. 8.

    Laura

    So this play was on my local PBS last night:
    The Life of Thomas Paine (The Play)
    http://thelifeofthomaspaine.org/play.html
    If you get a chance to see it, please do, you will not be disappointed.

    Ian Ruskin has been taking it on the road to community colleges and libraries across the country. The filmed version was Haskell Wexler’s last production before his death.

    I got to see it live at the Harvard Trade Union Program’s last Alumni Celebration (HTUP!) and was found that everything old is new again. Here’s hoping it becomes as ubiquitous on the 4th as Christmas Story on, well, you know.

  9. 9.

    Another Scott

    Obama should have released this “Don’t Do This!” safety video…

    Happy 4th Everyone.

    Also too:

    Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Teabagger brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

    (sigh)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  10. 10.

    Betty Cracker

    It’s hard to celebrate an independence that was willingly ceded last year by a traitorous, compromised, corrupt demagogue and his craven enablers in congress. Not to mention the MAGAts who are absurdly celebrating that victory of a foreign autocrat by wrapping themselves in the American flag.

    On the other hand, I’ve never related more to the struggles of the colonists who banded together and risked all to throw off the yoke of a hostile foreign power. May we have the courage to redeem their experiment.

  11. 11.

    Baud

    President Whitmore’s Independence Day Address

    Good morning. In less than an hour, aircraft from here will join others from around the world. And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind. “Mankind.” That word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can’t be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it’s fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom… Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution… but from annihilation. We are fighting for our right to live. To exist. And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day the world declared in one voice: “We will not go quietly into the night!” We will not vanish without a fight! We’re going to live on! We’re going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day!

  13. 13.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Betty: The GOP has not been the party of Lincoln for some time now. It has been, ever since at least 1980, the party of Jefferson Davis.

    It needs to go the way of the NSDAP and the CPSU.

    Oblivion.

  16. 16.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    Well, relatively speaking, yes. That walking softly, carrying a big stick thing has always bothered me.

  18. 18.

    MattF

    @debbie: I believe Grant was a Republican.

    ETA: As was Sherman, although he (famously) turned down the Presidency.

  24. 24.

    debbie

    @MattF:

    Grant and Sherman were of the same period as Lincoln, so I wouldn’t be surprised at the similarities in party philosphy (though I remember writing a paper about Grant in college and thinking he had ended up being duped by both sides).

  26. 26.

    MattF

    @debbie: Grant’s reputation has had something of a roller-coaster ride. it seems, right now, to be on the upswing (once again). In any case, I would strongly recommend reading both Grant’s and Sherman’s memoirs to anyone with even a minimal interest in American history.

  28. 28.

    raven

    Try this one

    War Like the Thunderbolt: The Battle and Burning of Atlanta

    Through the power of Margaret Mitchell’s words and the film they inspired, the struggle for Atlanta became all that most folks needed to know about our nation’s four-year bloodbath. Russell S. Bonds has courageously focused his sights on retelling the story in War Like The Thunderbolt: The Battle and Burning of Atlanta. Through the depth of his research and his skills as both historian and storyteller, Bonds has given us what might have seemed impossible–a fresh, new, and impressive look back at Atlanta.” –Robert Hicks, author of the New York Times bestseller, The Widow of the South

    “This gripping story of the battles for Atlanta in 1864 provides new insights on a campaign that ensured Lincoln’s reelection and the ultimate destruction of the Confederacy. Russell S. Bonds has an impressive ability to combine combat narrative with shrewd analyses of commanders’ performances.” –James M. McPherson, author of Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

  29. 29.

    debbie

    @MattF:

    I know I read contemporary accounts for papers for Grant as well as Lincoln, but (other than Carl Sanburg) I can’t remember the authors. My brain is the dusty bin of history at this point.

  31. 31.

    Another Scott

    @Sab: Grant owned slaves (at one point). Dunno if Sherman did or not.

    It’s easy to find disqualifying facts about people from different times, and sometimes one doesn’t have to look very hard. People are usually products of their times, and breaking out of that is very difficult.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  32. 32.

    Jim Parish

    @MattF: Heartily seconded as to Grant’s memoirs. The man was actually a good writer; his thoughts on dueling are incisive, and he makes the strategy and tactics of the Western campaign and the final showdown with Lee very clear. He was also capable of laughing at his own foibles.

    I have Sherman’s memoirs (Library of America version, as with Grant), but haven’t gotten around to reading them.

  33. 33.

    Kraux Pas

    Brooks has an “insightful” article in the NYT today, finally cracking the code as to why Republicans vote against their interests. Apparently, it’s a cultural value of self-reliance.

    Of course, I would say that Democrats value self-reliance as well. They simply want to make tools available to the American public that (healthcare, education, infrastructure, etc.) that help people to achieve a self-reliant niche in a broader interdependent culture.

    However, apparently Republicans are so hard-scrabble, so hard-wired for self-determination that they refer a society where you make your way and if you fuck up once, you die. You get one chance in life in Trump’s America, folks. That is unless, of course, you’re a member of the 0.1%

  35. 35.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud:

    It seems old Abe (see original post) was something of a Godbotherer himself. I’ve been waiting for someone to flame him for it.

  36. 36.

    jmw

    I know it’s petty but I just have to contrast how eloquently Lincoln acknowledges his incomplete grasp of the facts and thus curtailing his remarks to a certain recent President retweeting unconfirmed rumors in the middle of terrorist attacks.

  37. 37.

    MattF

    @Kraux Pas: Read that this morning. I note that Peter Wehner has an op-ed essay– on the same page as Brooks’ weaselly opus– about Trump. Wehner is a committed conservative and doesn’t mind saying so– and he despises Trump. Interesting contrast.

  38. 38.

    gene108

    @Baud:

    I often wonder, if they were here today what Presidents Whittmore and Camacho would think of us now.

  39. 39.

    CarolDuhart2

    Grant’s Memoirs

    Grant was a product of his times, like Sherman was,so I don’t expect them to have modern sensibilities in all things. But I thank them instead for whatever they did to advance things a bit.

    The Loyalist Blacks had it much worse at times than we did, and is a reminder that politics and location matter. They were invisible to the rest of Canada as long as they stayed where they were and were an issue for only one providence. It’s no accident that as black people moved north, our political influence increased. We were no longer invisible, no longer subject to what local officials had to say about us. Nova Scotians never spread out over Canada and were unable to apparently influence other Canadians for better treatment.

  40. 40.

    Kathleen

    @Kraux Pas: Regarding NYT and its obsession with white people, Studio Glibly posted this hilarious thread:

    https://twitter.com/NoTotally/status/882119215401943041

    His opening shot:

    NYT has this whole-ass genre of sad white people staring pensively out window in darkened room stories

    Fellow tweeters submit photos of themselves, cats, and dogs staring out of windows pensively, some with captions. Absolutely hilarious.

  43. 43.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Here’s a historical perspective on today’s troubles, from a historian I respect. It’s a long read, so here are some samples:

    Step back a bit, however, and the picture is largely positive. The American economy is growing, crime is at a historic low, and U.S. military capabilities are the envy of all. Again, judging from macro trends, the United States possesses exceptional and deep long-term advantages: technological innovation, crown-jewel higher education institutions, demographic diversity and dynamism, political flexibility, and relative mobility. Even the constant hand-wringing and political fighting has advantages: Americans, arguably more than say the French or Chinese, love to criticize themselves and their fellow citizens. They have always worried they are messing up, a paranoia that often fuels self-correction, competition, and adaptation. Look at the numbers and ask yourself if there a country in the world, be it Brazil, Japan, Germany, or even China, whose long-term future America would rather possess than its own. Russia, the foe of the day, is literally dying. In a few decades, it is on target to have a population less than Egypt and the Philippines and equal to Tanzania and Vietnam.

    This is not to suggest we should be calm or unconcerned. History cautions against easy optimism or naïve expectations of linear progress. Things can get worse — much worse — in sudden and unexpected ways, in very short periods of time. That is the very reason why we must put things in perspective, to not judge every Presidential outrage or MSNBC tirade as the end of the world. We need to be much better about trying to separate the signal from the noise, to understand what matters most in the long run, and what is simply fodder for irrelevant arguments on social media.

    The answer to the question “what matters” obviously depends on the who, when, and why of the asking, and is simultaneously the most individual and idiosyncratic of queries, and the most general and universal. For a historian of foreign policy and international security at a time when America’s role in the world is more uncertain than at any time in recent memory — it is an especially vexing question. Assessing the broad expanses of time that make up our past, historians are quick to recognize that things that seem to matter quite a bit in “real-time,” fade as the years pass, whereas forces and factors that were more hidden and subtle often play far larger roles in shaping the world we live in. Understanding today what will matter in an unknowable future is difficult.

    As they say, read the whole thing.

  44. 44.

    ThresherK

    @Jim Parish: Grant dictated his memoirs on his deathbed, while dying of cancer, right?

    Considering how many ex-Prezzes piffling books have been sent to pulp, recording Grant was quite a “get” for posterity.

  45. 45.

    No Drought No More

    I’m pleasantly surprised that Trump didn’t commemorate the 4th by laying a wreath at at the foot of the Jeff Davis statue in Richmond, or at the memorial service in Vicksburg to commemorate the tragic surrender of the besieged fortress of freedom on this date in 1863..

    It’s even being rumored that Trump had to be be dissuaded from designating the 4th as a national day of mourning (I know this because I started the rumor)..

  48. 48.

    Kraux Pas

    @MattF:

    I note that Peter Wehner has an op-ed essay– on the same page as Brooks’ weaselly opus– about Trump. Wehner is a committed conservative and doesn’t mind saying so– and he despises Trump. Interesting contrast.

    Just read it, thanks for pointing it out. I will note that while he does an excellent job illustrating how destructive Trump is and faults Republican acquiescence, this line troubles me:

    He turns out to be an institutional arsonist. It is an irony of American history that the Republican Party, which has historically valued order and institutions, has become the conduit of chaos.

    It’s like Trump’s dishonest, destructive politics just dropped out of the sky in 2016 and were, to that point, nowhere to be found in the Republican party.

    @Kathleen:

    Regarding NYT and its obsession with white people

    What? Non-white-folk can’t be suicidally self-reliant? /SJW

    Fellow tweeters submit photos of themselves, cats, and dogs staring out of windows pensively, some with captions. Absolutely hilarious.

    Haha, they were, indeed.

  49. 49.

    d58826

    @Another Scott: After watching the video, I think the wording in the Declaration needs a bit of editing ‘ We hold these truths to be self-evident, that at least some men are created dumber than a bag of rocks’.

  50. 50.

    d58826

    @Kathleen: On a serious note I saw a tweet reaction to this

    Conservative voters in the northernmost reaches of California feel alienated by the state’s liberal urban majority

    Paraphrasing asked where is the article about ‘how black people about living in a majority white conservative state’.

  54. 54.

    MattF

    @Kraux Pas: Well, yes. Although Wehner actually hedges a bit, saying Rs have ‘historically’ valued order, which could mean nearly anything, and leaves out that business with the War Between The States.

  55. 55.

    Chris

    @debbie:

    Nobodt since Lincoln has entirely lived up to it, sadly. The party has basically been in a downward spiral since Lincoln died.

  57. 57.

    Jacel

    @Jim Parish: If I remember right, Mark Twain was involved in the effort to get Grant’s memoirs published as a means of obtaining financial support for the former president when he needed it. I’ve wondered what extent Twain had a hand in preparing Grant’s text.

  58. 58.

    MattF

    @Jacel: Twain was actually the original publisher. He basically rescued Grant from the clutches of an exploitative publishing contract. Grant had a habit of trusting the wrong people.

  60. 60.

    sharl

    Anne Laurie noted Frederick Douglass’ 1852 speech in the previous post. Today, sports writer Dave Zirin linked to the entire speech in his 2012 reprinting of it in The Nation. It’s a long read, but after celebrating the holiday, might be something worth settling in with.

    What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?
    by Frederick Douglass
    July 5, 1852

  61. 61.

    jmw

    @Jacel:
    A lot of the content of Grant’s memoirs comes from original field orders and primary documents that he got from the participants. The clarity of his writing under the pressure of battle is remarkable and makes his work worth reading alone.

  64. 64.

    Brachiator

    @Kathleen:

    .. Regarding NYT and its obsession with white people, Studio Glibly posted this hilarious thread

    Very funny stuff! Thanks for the bit of whimsy.

  65. 65.

    Kathleen

    I’m glad everyone enjoyed Glibly’s Twitter feed. I needed a good laugh today myself.

  67. 67.

    bystander

    Rude Pundit has a post about Francis Hopkinson. I was unfamiliar with Hopkinson.

    “Every conviction of error is a violence done to the mind, inasmuch as the forcible eradication of a prejudice must be attended with a painful sensation. The blind man is happy in his blindness, and the ignorant content with his ignorance. The wisest of men has somewhere told us that the increase of wisdom is the increase of sorrow.”

    Happy 4th, Juicers!

  68. 68.

    germy

    Last year we visited Grant’s cottage. Everything is as it was. The clock his son stopped at the minute of Grant’s death is still on the mantel. His favorite chair. The bed he died in. On a shelf is a bottle of the cocaine mixture he was prescribed for pain.

    On the grounds, there is a marker on his favorite spot; quite a view. Unfortunately, several signs were covered in bullet holes. We asked an groundskeeper who he thought shot at the signs. He said he suspected some departing guards from a nearby prison that closed a few years back.

  70. 70.

    Another Scott

    @Adam L Silverman: He was born “Hiram Ulysses Grant”. My mom told me that when he went off to West Point he was ribbed mercilessly for having “H.U.G.” on his trunk. (Apparently it’s apocryphal.)

    The memoir excerpts that TNC posted when he was in his “all things US Grant” phase were amazing. It’s been on my List since then.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  71. 71.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Another Scott: The Dunning School, and fellow travelers, did a number on him and his reputation. Most of the more recent histories and biographies have gone a long way to rehabilitating him to his proper place and reputation.

  72. 72.

    Patricia Kayden

    @d58826: The MSM is only concerned with White folks. Hence the multiple stories about White Conservatives suffering despite electing their god last November. You’d think they’d be happy and celebrating about taking over Congress completely. But instead we’re constantly getting stories about how depressed/distressed they are as if they are victims. Sick of it.

  73. 73.

    Brachiator

    @germy:

    .Last year we visited Grant’s cottage.

    Did they ever figure out who was buried in Grant’s tomb?

    ETA. Old jokes, like old soldiers, never die.

  74. 74.

    germy

    @Brachiator: The correct answer is “no one,” since Grant and his wife are entombed in sarcophagi above ground in an atrium rather than being buried in the ground.

  76. 76.

    J R in WV

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I suspect President Grant was a better General than he was President. No pesky congress to work with… etc. But still a good Republican president, as he didn’t destroy the Republic.

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