October 16 1854 Peoria Speech Analysis

From the time one attends grade school they are taught to gasp and bask at the memory of President Lincoln because he was so instrumental in the freeing of the slaves. What instructors neglect to inform their young scholars of is the full scoop of Lincoln’s views. In Abraham Lincoln’s October 16, 1854 Peoria Speech he asks the room, “What next? Free them, and make them politically and socially, our equals? My own feelings will not admit of this (Lincoln 1854).” Lincoln at this point has now stated that he is not fighting for equality, he is fighting for freedom. Freedom means you’re not bound, it does not also require other to view you as their equal. The dialogue of the speech is formatted to refrain from causing uproar without forging personal

Lincoln uses the speech not only as a mode of intellectual transportation, but also as a sounding board to find out what those he’s representing want to see done in regards to the topic. During the 1800’s slavery within the United States was merely a way of life for those in the south. Slaves were major forces at work within the economic structure of the south, without enough bodies to do the work, production would slow down which in turn would decrease economic profit. Lincoln states, “If slavery did not now exist amongst them, they would not introduce it. If it did now exist amongst us [the North], we should not instantly give it up ( ).” During this portion of the speech and in the moments to follow we are able to see just how analytical Lincoln has made this issue. Lincoln has taken the simple view of slavery being a staple in society and within a matter of words flipped the lens to give a perplex view that it is embed within the linkages of The South’s DNA; conceding that even he himself knows that should he have been born into a slavery driven household, he would have been reluctant to let the way of life

Since then it’s come to light that at the time when J.F.K. was making this accusation, it was a lie. While no one focuses on this point, and it has in no way left a historical blip on the way U.S. history books remember the former president, nonetheless, it must be acknowledged that Kennedy used a sheer rumor to aid his campaign. To believe that Abraham Lincoln did not do the same on the campaign trail towards his various position, would be naive. The focus of any campaign trail is to get constituents involved and engaged in your cause, to fight right alongside you, however, before they can fight alongside you there is an initial aspect of persuasion that must be mastered. “Contemporary research suggest that the persuasiveness of a message depends not only on the message itself but also on characteristics of the audience, such as attention, distraction, involvement, motivation, self-esteem, and intelligence (Martin 2011).” Lincoln is using these speeches to get the people on his side, he wants them to align with his train of thought (if he did not want them to think as he does, he would not have made a point to discuss it). Lincoln grabs the audience’s attention on document 6 by painting the discussion as a result of a question, instead of