Commonwealth Democracy

Lincoln’s famous call to take up “the unfinished work” of those who fought for the Union drew its power from the way he redefined consecrate. He shifted the meaning of the word from public ceremony enacted by officials to the public work that ordinary soldiers did on behalf of the nation. He simultaneously honored Union soldiers and reminded the country that democracy was an unfinished labor of all the living.

Abraham Lincoln had long held to a labor theory of value. He saw work ...