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Gettysburg Address Thesis

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On a very impactful day in Abraham Lincoln’s life he delivered a speech dedicating a National Cemetery to all of the Union soldiers killed at the Battle Of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. He began his speech by saying, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” (Newman 79). These words expressed to all of the Americans listening that eighty seven years before this speech was given, in 1771, the birth of America, as a new nation, was celebrated. He also recognized all of the hard work that came from the Founding Fathers in order to form the Constitution. He then proceeded to remind listeners that America was created to gain liberty and …show more content…

When Lincoln was very young, his mother died from tremetol, causing him to grow “more alienated from his father. [Abraham] quietly resented the hard work placed on him at an early age” (“Abraham Lincoln,” Biography.com). However, this hard work helped Abraham with his studies later in life. His mother and father were both illiterate, so when his father married Sarah, Abraham’s step-mother, she encouraged him to read. Abraham would walk for miles to borrow a book. He also read the family Bible and other popular books in hopes of receiving a formal education (“Abraham Lincoln,” Biography.com). When Abraham Lincoln turned nineteen, he was asked to assist with the transportation of a flatboat downriver to New Orleans. Lincoln had never seen a city before this opportunity and was unaware of all the horrors of slavery he would witness while away. On this trip, he saw whipping posts, slave pens, traps, and shackles. However, the main factor that reassured his hate for slavery was the public slave auctions

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980 Words | 4 Pages

“She now commenced to practice her husband’s precepts. She finally became even more violent in her opposition than her husband himself.” (pg.29-31, p.104) Frederick Douglass then found any way to learn to improve his literacy. When he was sent to do errands, he always took a book with him. He would also bring a piece of bread with him.

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1029 Words | 5 Pages

It has opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out” (Douglass 45). Frederick Douglass, through early guidance of his Mistress, was able to teach himself how to read. However, it was outlawed in the South to teach a slave

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302 Words | 2 Pages

Douglass’s passion to gain knowledge motivated him to teach himself how to read and write; however, Wright’s knowledge developed from being able to go to school and so this is indicative of Douglass experiencing education far worse than Wright. According to Douglass, it was prohibited for slaves to be educated. Since slaves did not have access to an education, Douglass had to find ways to self-teach himself. By virtue of Douglass’s learning, he asserts that: “All the little white boys whom I met in the street… I converted [them] into teachers… [and] I finally succeeded in learning how to read” (Douglass 146).

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299 Words | 2 Pages

Frederick Douglass was a slave who wanted to learn how to read. His mistress wanted to teach him but her husband did not approve, so he had to find a different way to learn how to read. He gave the white children down the street bread and in return they would teach him to read. Frederick Douglass grew to not like reading because it reminded him that he would never be free. Douglass’s tone in his Autobiography is angry, this helped him achieve his purpose.

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1580 Words | 7 Pages

Douglass got a new viewpoint on slavery when he moved to Baltimore and lived with his new master Hugh Auld and his wife Sophia, who taught Douglass the alphabet for a while until her husband reprimanded her. Douglass learned the rest of the alphabet and how to read from his white friends in town and practiced everyday by himself. He had a fascination with abolitionist newspapers and continually read The Columbian Orator. This was a major turning point in Douglass’s life, reading about abolitionists and free slaves gave him the strength and hope he needed to one day escape and become the man he is. He now had a greater

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645 Words | 3 Pages

The Great Speech Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863 delivered one of the most iconic speeches in American History. His delivery infuses us with such raw power and emotions that poured out from the bottom of his heart will change the hearts and minds of Americans for ages to come. Abraham Lincoln did not just write one speech he made five different copies with different sentence structure and paragraph structure, to show how important the layout of the message and how it needed to be simple and to the point. Dissecting “The Gettysburg Address” we begin to understand Abraham Lincoln’s heart lies, he reminds everyone about our past and that we should honor those who fought for our freedom; he tells us “All men are created equal” only to show us what we need to work on as people in the present, he spreads hope for the future and encourages us to grow together

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582 Words | 3 Pages

Slaves obtaining knowledge or an education were then viewed as unmanageable. One can see that through Frederick Douglass’s gain of education; Slavery began to look more than an imprisonment and his mind would not cease to think. With this depressing state of mind, Douglass would begin to plot for ways to obtain his education. Despite living in a country were teaching slaves was unpardonable, Frederick Douglass began to incorporate various ways for his education. He would hide in a separate room and would be suspected by his mistress that he could be reading a book.

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645 Words | 3 Pages

Abraham Lincoln’s stance on slavery never changed, if anything he became more outspoken against slavery. In his early days, while running for the U.S. Senate, he gave many speeches against rival Stephen A. Douglas where he denounced and lashed out against all forms of slavery. To start of Abraham Lincoln’s evolution of slavery, it began on January 27, 1838, this speech was called Lyceum address. Primarily Lincoln voiced his opinion on his views on various topics, however, a part of his speech talked about slaves momentarily he stated, “Alike, they spring up among the pleasure hunting masters of Southern slaves, and the order loving citizens of the land of steady habits. Whatever, then, their cause may be, it is common to the whole country.

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560 Words | 3 Pages

Douglass states: “The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers. I could regard them in no other light than a band of successful robbers, who had left their homes, and gone to Africa, and stolen us from our homes, and in a strange land reduced us to slavery” (Douglass 51). Reading and writing opened Frederick Douglass’s eyes to the cause of the abolitionist. He became knowledgeable about a topic that white slave owners tried to keep hidden from their slaves. Literacy would eventually impact his life in more ways than what he could see while he was a young slave under Master Hugh’s

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1108 Words | 5 Pages

For Abraham Lincoln, this was a different story. As a child, Lincoln enjoyed reading to his siblings, and telling stories. The local preacher in young Abraham’s community, often recalled seeing Abe standing on a large tree stump behind the church. Where young Lincoln could be seen reciting funny poems and lyricals to an imaginary audience of milkweed and flowers, which sat before him (Sandburg 27). As Lincoln grew up, he became more and more well educated and versed in the world of literature.

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1727 Words | 7 Pages

With all the knowledge he was gaining, he began to comprehend everything around him. The things he was learning fascinated him, but the “more [he] read, the more [he] was led to abhor and detest [his] enslavers”(Douglass 35); however, that should not be viewed as a negative affect but a positive one. No one should want to be deceived for their entire life. This hatred that he built up motivated him to continue to further educate himself. As a result, he later motivated other slaves to earn an education by having “[availed] themselves to [an] opportunity to learn to read” (Douglass 69) by Douglass teaching them every Sunday.

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502 Words | 3 Pages

Lincoln makes a reference to our founding fathers at the start of his speech to remind his audience of how our nation started. Giving a description of the origin of our country depicts the purpose of America's existence. A place that was once united against one cause has become a place that is divided and against each other. Lincoln also states, "that all men are created equal" in the same area he mentions the founding fathers to position his opinion on

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732 Words | 3 Pages

Lincoln’s childhood was rough, and his family was on the poor end of the economy. His father worked low paying jobs due to not being able to write or read. Furthermore, his mother taught him how to read and write but she passed away when Lincoln was nine.

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400 Words | 2 Pages

His knowledge made him realize that the enslaves were like robber who went to Africa and stole them from their own home. Douglass was unhappy and started to think of ways to change it ,and he then started to analyze the need of gaining their freedom from slaveholders, and the urge to runaway . “[I] got one of our city papers, containing an account of the number of petition from the north, praying for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia…” (Par. 9) When Douglass read the city papers, he then understood the true meaning of the words abolition and abolitionist. This means that literacy was a huge impact with Douglass of the true idea of slavery and how slaveholders were taking advantage of them .

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839 Words | 4 Pages

Reading gave him access to books, in which he discovered liberating ideas that would sustain him throughout his life as an abolitionist and reformer. Reading newspapers that he picked up in the streets of Baltimore informed him of southern resistance to the abolition movement and the increasing sectional conflict between the North and the South over the issue of slavery. He soon realized that learning to write would enable him to wield the power of the pen on behalf of millions of oppressed people (Colaiaco, 2008, p.

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