Lincoln's ommissions were in striking contrast to Edward Everett's oration which devoted great attention to the battle, to the sins of the South, and to a lengthy justification of the Union's cause. Lincoln's conscious decision to ignore the particulars worked to elevate the Civil War from the realm of actions to the realm of ideas. By hovering "above the carnage," as Wills writes, Lincoln raised the meaning--and the consequences--of the war to something of much greater importance than political disagreements, economic competition, and social difference. Indeed, Lincoln distills the war to a single, abstract idea--freedom.