Today marks the start of the Battle of Gettysburg one hundred sixty years ago, a bloody engagement that went on for three days. Most historians see this battle as the turning point of the American Civil War, a war to save the Union, a war to end slavery. It is imperative today that we do not forget the values and principles that so many died to protect and defend. Yet many of the attitudes and actions current at the time of the Civil War continue to resonate in our contemporary social interactions. The political turmoil we face today would not be very surprising to citizens in 1863. Sadly, we have yet to fully learn the lessons of that bitterly strife-torn era. And as the old adage goes, if we fail to learn the lessons of history, we are doomed to repeat them.

Recent attempts to dismantle our federal republic, piece by piece, through various special-interest programs and the unabashedly partisan actions of state legislatures and opportunistic state executives, should give all of us pause to consider what was achieved at Gettysburg, at a dreadfully high cost. The “states’ rights” advocates of that era would not countenance any interference with their “peculiar institution,” their slavery-based economy, which they defended on the basis of their long-standing traditions, their perceived economic necessity, and their self-serving interpretation of the Bible. The reemergence of a latent nostalgia for that “lost Confederate cause” coupled with feelings that America’s institutions, from government to healthcare and education, are corrupt and have been insidiously marshalled against “real” Americans, has pushed the polarization of the American polity to the brink. Emotions are running high, and resentments are so acute that a disturbing number of our fellow citizens now regularly vilify those they disagree with and justify changing government and society by any means necessary–including violence. The danger to our democracy has seldom been greater.

All American citizens have the right, guaranteed in the US Constitution, to express their views as vigorously as they wish, and no one must be discouraged from participating in the political process. Likewise, all citizens have the duty to respect the law and defend the institutions of government that have been established by that venerable document. That means there is a definite line that must not be crossed. Upon the ratification of the Constitution, one of our great founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, was asked what kind of government we had. He replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

That is our solemn obligation, to keep our republic. Despite those who would disgracefully violate their oaths of office, or manipulate laws to satisfy narrow-minded political objectives, or provoke resentment and mischief against the very foundations of our democratic order, this republic will stand, just as it stood throughout that great conflict one hundred sixty years ago. I am confident we are resilient enough to endure these misguided incursions against America’s founding principles and its hard-won freedoms. Prior to the Civil War, references to America used the plural: “these United States are.” Following the restoration of the Union in 1865 and ever since, reference has been in the singular: “the United States of America is.” We had truly become one nation, not simply a conglomeration of states, each seeking solely to further its own interest. Now we truly had a common interest.

Obligations and responsibilities, not only rights, come with our federal union. And that is how we must go forward, respecting the brilliant legacy that our founding fathers created and willed to us. What we have achieved as a nation has become a beacon for the world. It is why desperate human beings the world over continue to flee from oppression and tyranny and seek refuge here to become part of this democratic society and share in the American dream. Throughout most of our history we have received legions of “huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” the “tired and poor” from the teeming shores of several continents. All in their time have integrated productively into our society, enriching it with a plethora of diverse cultures and ethnicities. No one denies that there were times when the newcomers faced serious difficulties blending in, but together we worked to overcome them–compassion, fairness, and good will are American traits, too. And today we are all Americans.

And we have more to do. Our unfinished national task (Abraham Lincoln spelled it out for us at Gettysburg in 1863) is to pledge ourselves to keep striving to “create a more perfect union,” and by staying faithful to that commitment, I am convinced that America the beautiful “will have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.”