The battle of Gettysburg was the turning point of the bloody war between the states in favor of the north. The battle over states rights, mainly the right to keep slaves, had finally peaked in July of 1863. Lincoln knew that he had to say something to inspire his troop to go on. He said that eighty-seven years ago, or as Lincoln affectionately refers to it, four score and seven, the four fathers were dedicated to the idea that all men were created equal, not just white, male landowners. He states that the Civil War tested weather a nation with the standards and principals of the United States would make it. He dedicates the ground that the solders died on the great battle which they had just fought and stated that the solders would not be buried, but instead left were they fell in battle. Lincoln then tell the troops not the let the brave men who died's deaths to have been in vein. He then says that the country shall have a new birth of freedom and that the United
States shall not perish.
The march on Washington D.C. was a turning point in the passionate battle for civil rights. Years of segregations and mistreatment of the African-Americans had pushed them to the edge. King knew that he had to say something to calm his people and make sure that their demonstration did not turn into a violent one. He said a hundred years ago, or as King affectionately referred to it, five score ago, Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address in a war to free the African-Americans from the tyranny of slavery. But despite the bloodshed they were still not free. King too touches on the fact that the fore fathers some one hundred and eighty seven years ago said that all men are created equal and entitled to liberty. King went on to say his people would not just go away and were not just blowing off steam. That these changes need to be made to keep hold of all that is America.
Beside for the parallel structure exhibited in both of these speeches, the are still fight for the same thing one hundred years apart. Though the African-Americans were free from the bondages of slavery they were not free from the bondages of racism. If it were not for these two speeches, the world would have not seen the importance of the African-Americans plight for equality.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
Baptist minister and civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech in front of civil rights supporters as a call to end racism in the United States as well as civil and economic rights for all races. In the introduction of the speech, he discussed the day that America’s forefathers signed the Emancipation Proclamation was a beacon of light for enslaved African Americans, as they would one day be free and seen as individuals rather than slaves. King states, “But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” Continuing, Dr. King believes that the origin of racial inequality lies solely with America and the refusal to view all races as equal, like the forefathers who wrote the Constitution and the Declaration of…
- 915 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
America in the 1960’s was far from what the Great Emancipator idealized when he issued a declaration in which all slaves were granted their unconditional freedom. Society lived in contradiction to the 14th and 15th Amendments of the Supreme Law of the Land, deliberately putting barriers on the Black vote and implementing the ‘Jim Crow Laws’. United States was polarized, no doubt, and the Black community was the target of segregation and inequality. Blacks everywhere suffered from inhumane treatment, violence and poverty. In that Dark Age of American ‘Civil Rights’ a man rose to be a city on a hill, a light in the dark. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. rose to fight injustice and oppression, not with violence, but with words and pacific demonstration. In his famous speech “ I Have a Dream” Dr. King affirms the urgency of the African Americans to obtain what for so long has been denied to them. King’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail” justifies and validates not only his presence in Alabama, but also the actions of the Civil Rights Movement to the clergymen who wrote the newspaper article “ A Call for Unity”. In both his speech and his letter King employs Biblical allusion, emotional appeal and imagery, of which the last mentioned is most appropriate for a speech.…
- 1592 Words
- 7 Pages
Better Essays -
Throughout history there has been an ever present struggle for the equality and justice of all men, more specifically, the equivalence of African-Americans to the White Men and abolition of slavery. To help these movements, speeches, essays, and stories have been published making huge strides in the brawl for equal opportunity for African-Americans for hundreds of years. Among these writings, include pieces that have gone down in history as being extremely controversial, inspirational, and powerful such as the I Have a Dream speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Atlanta Compromise Speech by Booker T. Washington, and Fredrick Douglass’s Plymouth County, Mass Speech and his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas. All the speeches have…
- 1086 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
President Abraham Lincoln delivers a speech at the dedication of the National Cemetery of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania on November 19, 1863. Pennsylvania was the site where the brutal battles of the Civil War were taken place. He was dedicated to the proposition that all men were created equally and soldiers that died for that cause should obviously continue to fight. The sacrifices that were made during the Civil War were the beginning of a new freedom to the land, preservation of the Union, which was created in 1776 and self-government for the most part. However, the boasting of the Union created in 1776 was tested to see if the Union would survive or if it would “perish from the earth” (Lincoln 3). The soldiers that died during the Battle…
- 516 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
On August 28, 1963, in Washington, D.C., Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered the prominent speech “I Have a Dream” at the Lincoln Memorial to over 250,000 civil rights supporters. King’s speech was compelling and potent; it moved everyone. Furthermore, he helped change the world where there is justice. He believed in the equality between whites and blacks and died believing it. In addition, he strongly believes freedom exists for the blacks. He states, “[The white’s] destiny is tied up with [the black’s] destiny.” This quote emphasizes the problem of injustice in this world, and it makes the audience move into action. King’s speech was widely known, due to the effective tone he creates throughout his speech. His use of literary tropes and syntactical schemes help make this formidable tone. King’s speech influences the whites and blacks to listen by using extensive anaphora, metaphor, and diction to create a tone of necessity in his “I Have a Dream” speech.…
- 547 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
President Abraham Lincoln gave his speech, the Gettysburg Address, on November 19, 1863, at the dedication of a new cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The cemetery contained the soldiers who died in the Battle of Gettysburg, the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. About five months earlier, the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg. The Gettysburg Address was one of the greatest and most influential speech during the war, because it put forward the idea that "all men are created equal". (1) Lincoln honored the Union dead and gave a purpose to the soldier's sacrifice, when he states "from these honored dead we take increased devotion..."(2) He invoked the principle of human equality from the Declaration…
- 175 Words
- 1 Page
Good Essays -
Abraham Lincoln in his speech, The Gettysburg Address, put emphasis on the battle, which is appropriate because The Battle of Gettysburg was the most important battle of The Civil War. A factor in The Battle of Gettysburg's importance was how costly it was. The battle lead to the most casualties for a single battle of The Civil War. That has massive ramifications on the rest of the war. It put significant deficits on both the armies of the Union and the Confederacy.…
- 609 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863 to signify the dedication to the soldiers that lost their lives in the Gettysburg battle which took place during the Civil War. This war was important to Lincoln because he believed it signified new beginnings to the U.S. with terms of freedom. Keeping in mind that the Gettysburg battle was the turning point for the war since this was the time that things started to finally look good for the North. In the reading it says, "At Gettysburg, he identified the nations mission with the principal that "all men are created equal," spoke of the war as bringing about a "new birth of freedom." In this Lincoln believes that there is a new idea that slaves are free and all men are created…
- 282 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech “I Have a Dream” that was presented on August 28, 1963 in Washington D.C., makes the audience listening think about the fact that the Negro is still not free. 100 years later, Negroes are still not completely free, and it makes you ask “when will they get their freedom?”, “when will they get out of the terrible injustice they are stuck in?”. The purpose of the speech is to make the people understand that they have to “face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free.” Dr. King Jr. leads up to this by exampling, 100 years later and the Negroes are still not free. He claims that the people need to “let freedom rain”. He has a dream, that one day all the Negroes will have their…
- 136 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address. He delivered this important speech four months after the Battle of Gettysburg. The battle resulted in the death of over 51,000 Union and Confederate soldiers and was one of the bloodiest battles of the entire Civil War.…
- 313 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
SPEAKER | Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth president of the United States of America and he help office during the Civil War. During the Civil War, the North and South split into two sides – the Union in the north led by president Lincoln and the Confederacy in the south led by president Davis. Originally, the Civil War was not an attempt by Lincoln to abolish slavery and emancipate the slaves, but to preserve and protect the Union, but later Lincoln decided that ending slavery was a key step necessary to winning the war. He was assassinated on April 15, 1865 by John Wilkes Booth. | OCCASION | Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg address in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on November 19, 1863. Lincoln was there for a dedication of a national cemetery in Gettysburg to commemorate the soldiers who lost their lives during the pivotal Battle of Gettysburg that stated on July 1, 1963 to July 3, 1963. It was both a joyous and tragic occasion: so many had lost their lives, but they did so in order to halt the advancement of Confederate soldiers into Union territory. | AUDIENCE | Lincoln was addressing the families of the deceased soldiers, surviving soldiers and other politicians who had showed up to offer their own words of hope and grief. The crowd that Lincoln stood before had been disheartened and depressed by the staggering losses on their side – even if it had meant victory for the Union. Lincoln attempted to embody a sense of grief, to console the families and pay respect to the dead, and a sense of determination, to rally the people and convince them that continuing the war and being victorious were the only options for keeping their nation alive. | PURPOSE | The purpose of the Gettysburg address was to honor the dead and make it clear to the other citizens of the Union that their deaths had not been in vain. The war they were fighting was the…
- 1995 Words
- 57 Pages
Powerful Essays -
In Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, he stressed that now is the time to give African Americans true freedom, equality, and opportunity. This is still very relevant to African Americans today, even though it shouldn’t be. I say it shouldn’t be because now, for Mr. King was 52 years and five months ago. These problems have been going on for more than half a century after he professed his dream, and there has been little change since then. There is still discrimination towards blacks and other colored races. Racial injustice against Black Americans is America’s top priority or at least it should be. Plus, there are still forms of segregation in this country.…
- 632 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Racism was and is still a prominent issue. Therefore the line, “For the land of the free...” Americans proudly sing is evidently false. Many have addressed the subject of racial injustice, but did not have an impact like Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”.…
- 686 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
The historical narrative document “I have a Dream” is a political speech which was delivered by Martin Luther King on the 28th of August 1963 in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. The speech was aimed at the 250,000 Civil Rights supporters, both black and white, who had gathered for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a key moment of the American Civil Rights Movement. One imagines that Martin Luther King hoped that his words would not only be heard that day in Washington, but that they would be carried across the rest of America too.…
- 2348 Words
- 10 Pages
Better Essays -
A great American signed into law the Emancipation Proclamation, which came to the African American slaves as though there was light at the end of the tunnel of their captivity. The Constitution and Declaration of Independence were words of honor, to every American; that all men, regardless of color, were created equal. However, one hundred years later, African Americans are not free from the torment of segregation and discrimination. One hundred years later, America has still not fulfilled its promise. In fact, America has broken its promise.…
- 545 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays