The Gettysburg Address is a tribute to the men who died in one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. Lincoln ultimately says that men from both sides of the battle died to preserve a government "of the people, by the people, [and] for the people." This means that the government should be responsible to the people; hence, the government should tell the people what it is doing, what it is involved in, and...
The Gettysburg Address is a tribute to the men who died in one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. Lincoln ultimately says that men from both sides of the battle died to preserve a government "of the people, by the people, [and] for the people." This means that the government should be responsible to the people; hence, the government should tell the people what it is doing, what it is involved in, and why. Since Sheriff Tate works for the government, he should tell the people of Maycomb County that Boo Radley saved the Finch children by killing Bob Ewell. Sheriff feels justified, though, that to protect Boo Radley's privacy is more important than telling the citizens what actually happened. Tate defends Boo Radley as follows:
"I never heard tell that it's against the law for a citizen to do his utmost to prevent a crime from being committed, which is exactly what he did, but maybe you'll say it's my duty to tell the town all about it and not hush it up. . . To my way of thinkn', Mr. Finch, taking the one man who's done you and this town a great service an' draggin' him with his shy ways into the limelight--to me, that's a sin. . . If it was any other man it'd be different. But not this man, Mr. Finch" (276).
So the answer would be no; Sheriff Tate's actions do not represent the ideas expressed by President Lincoln in the Gettysburg address. But the next question would be if there are some exceptions to the rules in some cases.
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