Abraham Lincoln And Coach Boone's The Gettysburg Address

Isaiah Feliciano

To overcome a challenge, leaders may make and deliver speeches to encourage people to work together. A common and major issue is the divisions among the populace. The three speeches, “The Gettysburg Address”, by Abraham Lincoln, “Robert Kennedy’s Remarks on the Assassination of Martin Luther King,Jr.”, by Robert Kennedy, and “Coach Boone’s Speech at Gettysburg”, by Coach Boone, attempt to encourage people overcome the challenge of disunification. One example of these leaders is during the American Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln made a speech after one of the bloodiest battles in the war, Gettysburg. He was trying to raise spirits and unite the north on the goal of uniting the United States. Lincoln mentions the nation being challenged and that the dead have been fighting that challenge. He wants the nation to become more free and equal in a time of trouble. He wants the nation to be united under these principles.

Martin Luther King Jr., one of the chief proponents for racial equality, has just been assassinated. Robert Kennedy breaks this news to the crowd while championing the Martin Luther King Jr.’s cause. Kennedy wants to focus the crowds energy into “an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand, and to comprehend, and replace that violence.”’ He wants to encourage people to unite in the United States and close racial divisions. The last example is Coach Boone’s speech at Gettysburg from the movie, Remember the Titans. He wants to convince a racially divided football team to unite to “learn to play this game like men.” Boone brings them to the graveyard where the battle of Gettysburg took place. He says to them that “If we don’t come together, right now, on this hallowed ground, we too will be destroyed…”. He wants to unite them together and be strong rather than have them