Abraham Lincoln and Equal Rights
With America struggling in a state of Civil War, the nation's very core was being shaken. Abraham Lincoln, who was president during this period, realized this, and delivered one of his most historically renowned speeches, "The Gettysburg Address". This speech addresses many concerns for the nation as a whole. Through "The Gettysburg Address", Lincoln clearly states his views on what the country once was, how it was during the time he was in, and what his hopes and dreams for the future were. When the United States was founded, it was founded on a very famous principle, that "all men are created equal." Lincoln realized this and stated that this nation was "dedicated to the proposition that all men were created equal." Our nation founded itself on this simple thought because its people were tired of the tyranny and oppression caused by rule under Great Britain. The early Americans wanted many things, from their own laws to religious freedoms, but most of all they wanted to be considered equals in the eyes of man. These are only a few of the reasons the Revolutionary War was fought with Great Britain. After the war was over the American people knew what it felt like to finally be free.
He had seen a nation divided, thousands of soldiers killed, families broken, and a sense of pride that Americans once shared shattered. Lincoln himself was worried about what the effects of the war would bring. Also, Lincoln censored some anti-Union newspapers and had editors and publishers arrested, when the constitution clearly states that no law shall be made taking away freedom of speech or the press (Boritt,156). But, there was no evidence that the country's circumstances was anywhere near as bad a perceived by Lincoln to call for his actions (Fletcher,38). Lincoln through The Gettysburg Address was setting forth an enormous challenge to work together to finish the ideas and dreams set forth by our forefathers, not to hinder them with hatred and bitterness. Lincoln arrested and jailed anti-Unionists, without giving them a reason, before congress had a chance to meet and approve it, when the Constitution states that the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, except in cases of rebellion or invasion, and that Congress must approve the suspension. Also, during the time of the Civil War, many controversial Constitutional issues arose. Abraham Lincoln, striving only for the people's equal rights, described best what impact the war would have on the nation when he said, "Now we are engaged in a great Civil War, testing whether our nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is one of the most famous speeches ever delivered by a President, because it not only showed how the forefathers believed and their purpose for the nation, but it displayed the obvious passion that Lincoln had for a free and united nation with majority rule. Lincoln condoned his actions by expressing his central idea or the right of American institutions, which was the right of individuals to govern themselves under the Constitution, according to the principle of majority rule (Belz,88). Lincoln believed that the central purpose of the Founding Fathers in writing the Constitution was to establish liberty. I will now focus on one of the major constitutional issues that Abraham Lincoln faced during the Civil War. Lincoln challenged the people of the time to put effort into the future. In such a time in American history, President Lincoln could not help but hope for brighter and more prosperous days as a nation.
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