Free And United Nation example essay topic

A Great Passion for Equality 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 McBride 2 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.

While they still remained free, Americans began to treat other races and cultures as the British had treated them. The irony found in this area of American history is that the country gained their freedom and equality from Britain, and was now fighting the same war of old against themselves. They let the same issues divide the country into two separate nations with a bitter hatred for one another. Perhaps the greatest irony is the fact that the southern states were now wanting to be free, and separate from the northern states.

Now the nation was found in a brutal state of war which would eventually determine the course of American history. 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 himself was worried about what the effects of the war would bring. It was truly a test of the heart of the McBride 3 United States as to whether or not it could overcome such a trying time. Times ironically sparked by the same conflicts that ignited the American Revolution. In such a time in American history, President Lincoln could not help but hope for brighter more prosperous days as a nation.

It seemed as if people had forgotten how and why they had become a nation in the first place. He had seen a nation divided, thousands of soldiers killed, families broken, and a sense of pride that Americans once shared shattered. Lincoln, knowledgeable of this fact pleaded with the Americans to once again, "have a new birth of freedom". Lincoln hoped that by reminding the American citizens why this country was founded, they would strive towards a future where everyone could live freely and equally, not under persecution or oppression. Lincoln challenged the people of the time to put effort into the future. Not only did he want the nation to taste freedom once again he called them "to be dedicated to the unfinished work".

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. The Civil War was, and still is, a very dark point in McBride 4 American History. It was a war that was fought over freedom and equality, almost paralleling the war that was fought in 1776, but this time the war was amongst our own countrymen. 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. It will forever be remembered because it discussed the turmoil and dismay of the war he was trying to stop, and also expressed his ideas and dreams for the nation in his time and all time yet to come.