LAD #20: Emancipation Proclamation

         The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Lincoln on the first of January in 1863 and it was a revolutionary document that finally allowed all southern slaves to be free in the Northern Union. With this slaves are also supposed to be respected by all people including the military personal. There is also a list within the proclamation that includes all states with which the Emancipation Proclamation applies to.  For instance some places such as Louisiana and Virginia do not have to conform to the law while states such as Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia still have to follow along with the proclamation. All slaves that were put under slavery in these states were now freed and could reside as such in the North. Lincoln hopes that this action will allow for the better treatment of those who are and were slaves and hopes that violence will not break out among the people for this decision.

LAD #19: Lincoln's Second Inaugural Adress

     Giving this address just before the end of the Civil War Lincoln’s tone was different in this inaugural address than his original. Although he does say in his address that he has high hopes for the future of America. He said that he tried as hard as he could to not allow war to take place but unfortunately there was no other choice. He brings up the fact that both the North and the South had an equal blame for the war even though no one actually wanted to fight the events just kept building up to the impending war. This war was going to happen because neither side was backing down. He also goes into the fact that the war was mostly caused by the act of slavery. The interest of slaves for both the south and the north was so great and opposite of each other that they were driven into conflict. When the war did hit no one expected it to be as great and terrible as it was. In the end Lincoln still stresses that it is important for the Union to be maintained for the future of the American people. He believes that the people of the north and the south are more similar to each other than they believe, they are all under one god. Lincoln prays to one day have a peaceful nation and realizes that America needs to first fix the wounds that the Civil War has created and that they will have to all come together to do so. As always his first priority and hope is that America can become a unified nation.

LAD #18: Dred Scott Decision

       The first ruling that came from the Scott vs. Sandford case did not consider the bigger picture at the time of Negro citizenship and the legality of the Missouri compromise and was therefore ruled in favor of Sandford. The original judge for this case was Justice Nelson who was later replaced by Roger B. Taney because Nelson had wrote the decision based solely on his opinion. There were many drafts of the decision had to be made because of how controversial the topic was. The problem with this case is that there was no actual distinction in the constitution regarding slaves and other properties. Although the case did rule the Missouri compromise to be unconstitutional because technically it took away slaveholders “property” which was slaves. Instead of ruling that Scott was free because if his residence in the Free State Illinois Taney ruled that he still was a slave because he escaped from Missouri which was a slave state. This meant that even though he had escaped he must be returned to his former state because he is the property of his slaveholder. So in the end the case was still ruled towards Sandford. This decision greatly strengthened the laws behind slavery also because slaves were not allowed to sue, new states were up to their own jurisdiction to choose whether they would be a slave or free state. Also it was ruled that the congress had no right to prohibit slavery in federal states.

LAD #17: Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman Speech"

      In this speech by Sojourner Truth she goes into not only the problem concerning the unequal treatment of blacks but also the unequal treatment of woman in America. She also points out that with all of these problems that America is experiencing the white men of America will have a lot of problems on their hands to deal with. Sojourner states that the way woman are supposed to be treated is as a lady, being helped over puddles and into carriages. What she is angry about is that even though she too is a lady she has never been treated with the same amount of respect that any white woman would have been treated with. She has had to work hard for her entire life and should gain as much respect as any man let alone any woman. She has been through so much in her life, battling slavery, the grief of losing her children, working as hard as she ever could so why is she not treated as any white woman would be treated like or respected as much as any man. She makes the point that having intelligence does not always matter in the sense of giving people their rights and respect they deserve. She also references the fact that without a woman Christ would not have existed. Women have always been strong enough to change the world and just because men may tell them they can’t, does not actually mean they are unable to make a difference. And if the woman is black, it does not make a difference.

LAD #16: Frederick Douglas 5th of July speech

      The reason that Frederick Douglas' speech was written the day after the holiday the fourth of July was because he wanted to make a point about the fourth of July means something different to slaves than it does to the white Americans who have been celebrating it.  Considering he was once a slave as well this day meant nothing special to him because he was not emancipated on the fourth of July. He goes into the grievances of all slaves who still have to work under all the poor conditions that slavery brings on them. He explains what the fourth of July is like for slaves, which is basically like every painful day they have to endure as a slave.  He says that if he were to celebrate this holiday than he would be seen as a hypocrite by going back on his original views. He references God and religion through this speech and says that slavery goes against not only the constitution but also the bible. It goes against all rights that people are promised with life. He is amazed by the lack of equality that is still present in America because America is supposed to be the land of freedom and equality but has not yet accomplished this promise that was supposed to be promised to all people. Over all though, the fourth of July is mainly for the white man and is just a symbol of injustice for Douglas and those who have been under slavery.

LAD #15: Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

       One of the most well-known speeches given in America was Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Though Lincoln tried in many ways to prevent the breaking of a unified nation that is a Civil War, it still inevitably broke out. He of course realizes this is a large hurtle America would have to get over but still believes its imperative to do so. In this address he relates to the importance of human equality and that the Civil War was an attempt to obtain freedom and bring equality to all of America. He wants people to never forget the war and the many people that died fighting for what they believed in. He says that they did not fully complete their mission but that it is up to the people who are still living to carry out what they had died for and continue protecting the rights of all American citizens. It is the democratic government’s job to make sure this is carried out and the people’s job to follow the laws that have been made so those who fought did not have to die in vain. This was very important to Lincoln that the soldiers of the union did not die without making an impression on the people of American.

LAD #14: Lincoln's First Inaugural Adress

   Lincoln starts out his inaugural address by assuring the southern states that they do not need to worry about a Republican being voted into office because he would make sure their rights and their property would be protected. He also assures that he does not feel he has any right to get involved with the issue of slavery in certain states. Lincoln is not a president that goes back on what he promises and uses that as another way of assuring the southern states that they don’t need to be worried about him doing anything they will dislike, the rights of the states will be fully enforced under Lincoln.  With the promise for the southern states that their rights would be protected, Lincoln also promises to all states that as long as he is president than everything stated in the constitution about their rights will be followed. He did also say that though he was not going to mess with what states had slavery, he was however not going to allow slavery to spread to other states. The unity of the United States was a very important thing to him that he wanted to maintain by making sure every state’s rights were fully protected. He believed that if any state seceded it would be unconstitutional and tear the country apart which he really wanted to prevent. Keeping the country as unified as he could was very important to Lincoln and he stressed this all throughout his address. He also stresses that it is in the hands of the American people whether there would be a Civil War or not but it is his hope that it would not have to come to that.

LAD #13: Calhoun on The Clay Compromise Measures

    

    In this compromise Calhoun’s biggest concern was the protection and preservation of the Union. He believes that the Union is in danger because most or all of the southern states are not happy with the way America is being run at this time and also that the southern states have not been happy for quite a while. He states that the reason the southern states are unhappy is because the northern elites of America have been only concerned with their own well-being and have not tried to include the South’s needs in any of their actions. The South and the North were also split into different political parties and therefore were not unified because of their political differences. One of the major factors in the South was the issue over the existence of slavery that was so important to the southern way of life but was also so against human rights. With all of the privileges the wealthy northerners had in the government it was shifted more towards the north, giving them dominance over most decisions made. Basically everything the North was doing was hurting the South in some way which caused the major tensions between the two to continue to grow. The government was supposed to be created for all of the people of America but it seemed to Calhoun that the south did not have nearly enough say in what happens in the government. Many aspects caused the disunion in America but the south was almost up to its limit of having to deal with the North constantly getting what only they wanted. Calhoun warned that if this problem continued to happen eventually the South would lose their control and turn against the North to receive the power they believed they deserved. As Calhoun predicted this eventually did happen. He also thought the only way to keep the states unified is by forcing the weaker states to comply with the bigger states demands. Calhoun recognized this as a big problem and wrote to the senators to try and allow them to realize this as well and prevent the future breaking of American unity.

LAD# 12: Polk's War Message

     

     In the beginning of his message Polk goes into the origin or cause of the war between the United States and Mexico. Some of the reasons this war began was because of America’s many issues with the Mexican government such as the Mexican governments treatment if American citizens. America was angered because the Mexicans were attacking them in their own soil. America still wanted to solve the border disputes with Mexico in a peaceful way. Polk tried to send the diplomat, John Slidell from Louisiana down to talk negotiations with the Mexican government but the negotiations never took place because the Mexican government refused to accept him in to talk. Texas wanted to protect themselves from possible attacks which spiked many battles to occur. Even though battles were being held it was not yet recognized as an official war. Although, this message written by Polk was an official statement that a war has finally been started between Mexico and the United States. Polk’s responsibility was to protect private property and respect personal property and that America has been trying their hardest to peacefully negotiate with Mexico and avoid war. Unfortunately the way that Mexico went around the problem caused the American government to declare war. This decision to declare war on Mexico was for the good and the protection of the American people.

LAD#11: The Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions

    

Woman were beginning to realize that they were not offered as many rights as the men in America were and began taking actions towards fixing that problem. Woman are promised the same inalienable rights that were created in the constitution and therefore should be given the right to vote to ensure that all their rights are protected and be allowed to vote. In the Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, there are many cases listed in which men have hindered women’s privileges to exercise her full rights. Some examples of this are woman were supposed to follow laws that the men created and they were not able to contribute to, when a woman becomes married she loses all of her property to her husband and if the two were ever to separate the man has the power to choose what each person gets to keep in the separation. There are many more of these problems listed and all of them go against the constitution. Also included in this document are several resolutions to the problems that were posed earlier. Such as woman are the equals of men and should be treated as such, it is up to the women of America to stand up for their rights and achieve that and that women should realize that their rights have not been offered to them and fight to obtain them so that America can actually become a country that allows all people to practice their inalienable rights. This document was a big step that woman needed to take towards realizing that they were not given their human rights that they deserved and take actions towards obtaining these rights.