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The Gettysburg Address Or The Letter From A Birmingham Jail

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From the founding of a new nation, one phrase is heard throughout its history: The five words that, “All men are created equal” (Declaration of Independence). Throughout the nation’s time, whether it be the Gettysburg Address (Lincoln) or the Letter from a Birmingham Jail (King). The nation itself believed in the fact that every person of the human race is equal to each other, no matter their skin color, race, gender, or anything else of that matter as it is the most basis of most, if not all, human rights. All men and women of all backgrounds are able to live in and contribute to the great nation without fear of having their basic rights taken away. The United States adequately supports human rights by allowing its citizens to choose what …show more content…

However, this leads to both sides learning more about the other and whatever both sides learn about the other forms a central idea they can agree on. This forms an environment where the two sides can live together and see past on what the other side believe in or come from and more on what they are as a person yet still be able to debate peacefully. This is the future MLK Jr. strived for where, “...all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality” (King). The United States fosters this characteristic in its diverse population of race, culture, and religion who all live under the same flag. People who are incredibly different yet are all united. Although there is people on total opposite sides who never interact with those who are different, those type of people are outliers who also have the right as humans to their beliefs. The United States allow those people to be able to have and show a certain opinion without being punished or restricted by the nation. This can cause great change within the nation, as the citizens can express what they want and need to be changed and has lead to the abolishment of one of the United States’ biggest problems: Segregation and Jim Crow Laws in …show more content…

Shown in organizations and events across America, such as the white supremacists in Charlottesville, who express their controversial beliefs, but the freedom of speech also applies to them. The freedom of speech applies to everyone as a human right, “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression” (United Nations). As stated previously, these people are now outliers in our modern society as laws that restricted human rights have been abolished, but there are also other human rights issues within America. However, the solution of these problems is from changing the mind of individuals and not the nation’s

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America is the land of the free and home of the brave, but has it always been? If someone were to reference old documents like The Declaration of Independence or even The Constitution they would think so, but American history itself says otherwise. During the mid 1770’s slavery was an almost unquestioned normality and women had no rights, however when The Declaration of Independence was written, the statement, “all men are created equal” appeared while Thomas Jefferson stated the natural rights of every human. This statement is clearly not true in the eyes of the men who wrote and edited this document, hence proving that the statement “all men were created equal” is hypocritical. In accordance to primary sources gained from this period of intolerance and recreations of it, it is clear that not only were the women not treated as equal, but the African men and women treated as property were also stripped of the three main rights and liberties the Declaration argues for.

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The country of the United States, has strong western values that states that every human being has the right to life, liberty and happiness that no one is allowed to infringe upon. The flag as well as the national anthem highlight these ideals. It is also undeniably true that all did not keep those ideas in the past as inequality and discrimination has occurred through history. Desperate this, the ideas still stand strong that everyone has rights no matter time, skin, ethnicity or gender.

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Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the letter from a Birmingham jail responding to his white clergymen. Martin was accused as being an outsider and he wrote the letter to defend himself. The clergymen were the ones who criticized what he did and got him put into jail. Dr. King wrote this letter towards religious leaders that had the power to change segregation laws but wouldn 't do it. He writes this because of the harsh treatment that African Americans received based on their skin tone being different.

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Not everyone born free and equal, as the constitution says, but everyone made equal . . . A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon. Breach man’s mind.”

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208 Words | 1 Pages

Even today in our society we still follow The Declaration of Independence. The quote "All men are created equally" for us mean that, All U.S citizen are the same, we have have the same equal rights and no one is differently when it comes to laws. In the novelette equality

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“All men are created equal” is one of the most famous lines of the Declaration of Independence but for a long time it only indicated to one type of person. A land-owner white man was the only person considered a citizen in the time the constitution was written. But since then, the meaning has changed and most people see it has describing all citizens no matter who they are or what they look like. But changing the meaning of a line is much simpler than changing the system that was built from it. That line simply presented the idea that people of color, women, and any other people who were not white landowning men were not citizens of the United States and did not need a job or educational opportunities.

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Similarly, when people already make up their minds and perceive events such as the civil rights movement to look as if it could even be just potentially dangerous, then those people who are seeking safety and comfortability are already against it. I am writing this essay to show the repercussions that close minded people will have and how close minded people will use information to their advantage, instead of letting information create an open

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The ideas and thoughts that are formed by each and every human being will always draw people no matter what the idea or thought is. This will cause a division between the people who support the thought or idea and those who do not support it. It’s natural, and to a certain degree the way that we form our lives around. Currently the nation of the United States is divided between those who support Trump’s executive order to build a wall and those who are against it. The nation itself hasn’t been this divided since the civil war over slavery.

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I would have to disagree with my friend. Equality is essentially the main founding principle in which this country was created upon. It is noted in the Deceleration of Independence that “All Men are Created Equal”, which is to be interpreted as all men meaning humanity is created equal. Even though the founding principles were based upon that statement the happenings that followed the implementation did not exactly reflect that statement. It was not until far later in history that “all men” or humanity began to actually enjoy equal rights and opportunities.

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“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…”. This infamous excerpt from the Declaration of Independence exhibits the many fallacies that the United States feeds its citizens. The only thing “evident” is the misconception that “all men” actually means “white men”. Throughout history the people in power have showed us their agenda to oppress the minorities and uplift the white race. The alt-right movement is another movement used the uplift the white race.

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The Gettysburg Address is known to be one of America’s greatest speeches made by the 16th President, Abraham Lincoln. The Gettysburg Address and Emancipation Proclamation made a significant contribution to history by recognizing all humans as equals, redefining the nation at the time, and changing the course of American history by abolishing slavery. There was strife between the North and the South of America, because of slavery. The South had already seceded from the Union and Abraham recognized that he cannot change the laws of slavery. ““My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery.”

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In Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech, the main idea is that all races should have equal rights, and African Americans should be fighting for their equality. One example from the speech is where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. says, “We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal.” In the Constitution, it says that all men are created equal, which means that everyone of any race, should have equal rights, and that is what African Americans should be fighting for. Another example of equality for all races is the Emancipation Proclamation. “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.”

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This means that no matter one’s gender, race, or religion, he or she is still an equal American citizen who has the same rights. In many countries like Syria and Afghanistan, people have very little rights and are treated as they are disposable and replaceable. Americans have many opportunities that other don’t because we have the Bill of Rights. In many countries, I would

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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.(Lincoln, Abraham). According to the Constitution, equality is achievable because the Constitution grants all individuals the same rights as well as the same opportunities. In the Bill of Rights, the general rights are explained and granted to all American citizens. Based the Constitution, citizens are given 27 amendments that define and protect their rights as well as their opportunities allowing equality to be achievable, yet some citizens disagree because of some problems in today’s society or their current status.

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Free speech and hate speech can be classified as different topics and when arguing for one, we can also criticize the other. Free expression and free speech on campuses are crucial for sparking important conversations about equality and social justice, and the suspension of free speech and expression may have dire consequences on college campuses. First, freedom of expression allows students to show their own political, social, and cultural views, while also allowing students with common beliefs to align. Free speech and the call for free speech allows those who have been historically systematically oppressed to use their voice.

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