LAD #20 Sojourner Truth Aint I a Woman Speech

Sojourner Truth, an African American women, delievered her "Ain't I a Woman?" speech at the Women's Convention in Akron, Ohio. She starts off by saying that men think women "need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and have the best place everywhere." She basically says that no one ever did any of those things for her and yet she is a woman. She has done man's work on farms, yet she is still a woman. She could eat as much as a man and seen almost all of her thirteen children sold away off into slavery, yet she is a woman. She then asks why women and negro's rights have to do with intellect. She thinks that men do not give women rights because Christ was a man, not a woman. Truth closes her speech with the remark that man was created by God and a women, so women should be respected.

LAD #19 5th of July Speech

On July 5th, 1852, Frederick Douglas spoke to a crowd in Rochester, New York explaining what the fourth of July meant to a slave. At first, Douglas asked the crowd why "the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to (the blacks)?" Douglas then goes on to say that there was an "immeasurable distance" between him and the whites. This difference was the fact that white people had inherited justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence from their fore founders. Douglas, however, did not inherit any of these virtues from the War of Independence. That is why, he says, "This fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn." He later goes on to say that he represents the black slaves and will not "hesitate to declare with all (his) soul that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to (him) than on (that) Fourth of July". Douglas says the nation "is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future." He proves that the black man is the same as a white man and they very similar. At the end of his speech, he answers his own question of what is the fourth of July to the American slave by saying that it is a day of "gross injustice" and "hollow mockery" to black slaves.

LAD #18 Emancipation Proclamation

As of January 1st, 1863, "all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State" were to be free. The slaves that were to be freed were guaranteed their independence and safety by "the Executive Government of the United States, including military and naval authority". Abe Lincoln even lists the states where they may rebel against the release of their slaves, such as Arkanas, Texas Louisana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Virginia. The slaves in these states were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation and the United States government would protect their rights. Although Lincoln warns the people to "abstain from all violence, unless in the necessary self-defense" and to "labor faithfully for reasonable wages". He also adds that now the slaves are free, they have a duty to perform as citizens of the nation. Lincoln concludes that the Proclamation will need the cooperation of everyone so it will follow through.

LAD #16 Lincoln's Second Inaugural

The opening to Lincoln's Address states that he does not have much to present to the American people. He says that the issues of the nation are already widely known so it would make little difference if he were to reiterate all his views that he has already during his first term. In his speech he reminds the people that only four years ago, the attention of the nation was "anxiously directed to an impending civil war". "Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war became." He said that one eighth of the American population was composed of slaves and their desire for freedom tore the nation in two. He illustrates the horrors of civil war, but he ends his speech with a unifying burst of patriotism. " With malice toward none, with charity for all, with the firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." The time has come for unity for the United States.

LAD# 16 Dred Scott Desicion

The Dred Scott Case decision deals with the issues of "Negro citizenship and the constitutionality of the Missouri Compromise". Chief Justice Taney believe that blacks were not eligible to sue in the court of the United States in "the cases specified by the Constitution". Taney believed that "even free Negroes, were not citizens of the United States, and that therefore, Scott, as a Negro, did not even have the privilege of being able to sue in a federal court". In regards to the constitutionality of the Missouri Compromise, he stated that all citizens within certain territories could not be denied the rights and protection of the Constitution. Meaning there was "no distinction between the slaves and other types of property". That means that slaves were the property of there masters. "The Missouri Compromise deprived slaveholding citizens of their property of their slaves and that therefore was unconstitutional" because "Scott had brought suit in Missouri and hence he was still a slave because Missouri was a slave state." The case was later dismissed for lack of jurisdiction and Scott remained a slave.

LAD #15 Lincoln's First Inaugural

From the very beginning of Lincoln’s inaugural speech, he states that he has no intentions “to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States”. He means he respects the rights of the states to regulate slavery within their own borders. He strongly believes that it is the most important thing is to keep the union in one piece. Lincoln also promises the American citizens that their “property, peace, and security of no section are to be in any wise endangered by” his election and “the now incoming Administration”. Going back to his ultimate goal of preserving the union, Lincoln states that he “holds that in contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution the Union of these States is perpetual”. Lincoln also promises the citizens that the use of unnecessary violence and force will be prohibited. “In doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or violence, and there shall be none unless it is forced upon the national authority. The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the Government and to collect the duties and imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people anywhere.” Lincoln guarantees security and protection under his administration. In regards to the issue of slavery, Lincoln keeps his opinions neutral in his first inaugural speech. He simply claims that the American constitution neither allows nor prohibits it. He also warns the territories and states about secession saying “Plainly the central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy”. The very end of Lincoln’s speech tries to inspire American patriotism: “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

LAD #14 Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

At the beginning of the speech, Abe Lincoln reminds the crowd that not long ago our founding fathers developed a new nation based on liberty and freedom. He then states that the Civil War is a test to see if this nation can endure a war or not. Lincoln then says that he is dedicating a piece of the Gettysburg battlefield to act as a graveyard for those men who fought to preserve that nation. He next goes into detail, saying, "The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract". This means that the men who died serving their country have made the battlefield their own memorial by making the ultimate sacrifice. Lincoln closes the short speech by saying that the men who died will not have died in vain. That they died for a "nation, under God, (that) shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

LAD # 13 John C. Calhoun

Calhoun address the issue of slavery that divided the nation to the point were it was no longer an issue that could be ignored, or solved with several compromises. He believed “that the agitation of the subject of slavery would”, could potentially, “end in disunion.” Whether a state would be free or slave when entered into the union was also an issue of conflict between the North and the South. Neither wanted the other to have the majority in the Senate, the House of Representatives and the Electoral College. Calhoun argued that as a result of the unequal balance of government “the South has been excluded from the common territory belonging to all the States as members of the federal Union” and they have been burdened by “a system of revenue and disbursements by which an undue proportion of the burden of taxation has been imposed upon the South, and an undue proportion of its proceeds appropriated to the North”. He also talks about the “unequal system of revenue and disbursements” only contributes to the economic prosperity of manufacturers in the North. Because so much wealth was concentrated in the North, the population of the region increased by attracting citizens and immigrants; this gives the North an unfair advantages and benefits that the South in unable to acquire.

LAD #12 Polk's War Message

Polk addresses the “wrongs and injuries committed by the Mexican Government on citizens of the United States in their persons and property were briefly set forth.” Despite American efforts to make peace, the Mexican government ahs been uncompromising and uncooperative; they invaded American territories and attacked American citizens. Trade with Mexico has also been “annihilated”. The American authorities had continued to attempt to maintain strong relations with Mexico but they continued to be met with resistance. Mexico also threatened to declare war upon the states if they were to annex Texas. Volunteers from Texas, “Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky” were also recruited to prevent Mexican invasion. “After the incorporation of "Texas into our Union of States, General Taylor was further authorized by the President to make a requisition upon the executive of that state for such of its militia force as may be needed to repel invasion or to secure the country against apprehended invasion.” “In further vindication of our rights and defense of our territory, I invoke the prompt action of Congress to recognize the existence of the war, and to place at the disposition of the Executive the means of prosecuting the war with vigor, and thus hastening the restoration of peace.” Polk’s is requesting that the American government take a stand against Mexican hostility and invasion of American territories. His goal was to end all disputes with the neighboring nation and to restore peace and trade.

LAD # 11 Seneca Falls Convention

The Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions' format mimics that of the Declaration of Independence, written seventy two years earlier by the Founding Fathers. The Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions consists of two parts, the declaration of sentiments and resolutions. The first part illustrates the many grievances the women have toward the way the country is treating them, similar of how the Declaration of Independence. For example, one grievance states, "He has compelled her to submit to laws, in the formation of which she had no voice". This grievance says that the women are forced to submit to laws without having a voice, mirroring the once well-known chant of the American colonists, 'Taxation without Representation'. Another grievance states that "He has taken from her all right in property, even to the wages she earns". This would be going against the liberty and freedom of the people of the United States. The second part shows the opposition the possible solutions to create an equal country for white men and women. The women said "That woman is man's equal— was intended to be so by the Creator, and the highest good of the race demands that she should be recognized as such." The women wrote this document to declare their freedoms based on the the format of the Declaration of Independence.