Speech President McKinley example essay topic

You have discovered one of the most comprehensive on-line collections of speech texts of contemporary American History. Here you can read the speeches and backgrounds of many of the most influential and poignant speakers of the recorded age. To help put each speaker in historical context, we have also provided a brief timeline of historical events. To learn about the speaker and what he or she was talking about, click on the background link.

To skip the background and read the text of the speech only, click on the speech link. To listen to an audio sample, click on the audio link, and to watch a short video excerpt, click on the video link. Additional background stories and audio and video links will be added as each episode of Great American Speeches airs on PBS over the next five weeks. Speeches are arranged sequentially by era. To find a particular speech, scroll down through the page, or you can jump to a specific decade by using the 10-year time bar below. Supreme Court overturns Civil Rights Act of 1875 which had guaranteed black Americans equal access to public facilities, 1883.

Statue of Liberty is dedicated, Oct. 28, 1886. Workers strike at Carnegie steel mills in Homestead, PA; 18 people killed on July 6, 1892. Financial panic leads to bank foreclosures and four-year national economic depression, 1893. Booker T. Washington speaks at The Cotton State Exposition, Atlanta, GA, Sep. 18, 1895.

Speech Supreme Court, in Ples sy vs. Ferguson, upholds 'separate-but-equal' racial segregation policies, 1896. William Jennings Bryan delivers his 'Cross of Gold' at the Democratic National Convention, Chicago, Il, Jul. 9, 1896. Background - Speech - Audio - Audio Bourke Cochran, Democratic Congressman, delivers pro-Gold rebuttal, New York, NY, Aug. 18, 1896. Speech Spanish-American War begins, April 22.

With victory, U.S. wins control of Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Guam, and Cuba, Dec. 10, 1898. Three year Philippine insurrection against American rule begins, 1889. - 1900's - Albert J. Beveridge, Indiana Senator, speaks on 'The Philippine Question,' before Congress, Jan. 9, 1900. Speech William Jennings Bryan accepts Democratic nomination for President and condemns U.S. policy in the Philippines, Indianapolis, IN, Aug. 8, 1900. Speech Mark Twain speaks on the 'Defense of General Fun ston,' Princeton, NJ, Feb. 22, 1902.

Speech Congress rejects a bill to make lynching a federal crime, Dec. 1900. George H. White the only black American member of Congress since Reconstruction, delivers his farewell address, Jan. 29, 1901. Speech Pan-American Exposition opens in Buffalo, N.Y. demonstrating the latest inventions in farming, medicine, communications, transportation, and housewares. Record numbers of visitors from around the world are expected to attend, Sep. 3, 1901.

William McKinley opens the Pan-American Exposition, Sep. 5, 1901. Speech President McKinley is shot Sep. 6; he dies eight days later. Theodore Roosevelt is sworn in as President, 1901. Emma Goldman, 'anarchist,' accused of inspiring McKinley's assassination, speaks on patriotism, San Francisco, c. 1908. Speech Wisconsin becomes the first state to hold direct elections for Senators, May 23, 1903.

Theodore Roosevelt promises 'A Square Deal,' at the N.Y. State Agriculture Association, Sep. 7, 1903. Background - Speech - Audio The National American Woman Suffrage Association holds the largest annual convention to push for women's voting rights in its 34-year history, March 24-30, 1903. Belle Kearney speaks on 'the race issue,' before the National Woman Suffrage Convention, New Orleans, LA, March 26, 1903. Speech Mary Church Terrell speaks on 'being colored in the nation's capital,' before the United Women's Club, Oct. 10, 1906. Background - Speech. E.B. DuBois addresses the 'Men of Niagra,' Harper's Ferry, WV, Aug. 16, 1906. Speech Booker T. Washington warns followers of DuBois, before the Afro-American Council, New York, NY, Oct. 1906.

Speech Women's Trade Union founded to encourage consumers to purchase clothing and other goods from businesses that do not employ small children, 1903. Florence Kelley speaks out on child labor and women's suffrage, July 22, 1905. Speech 'Mother Jones,' 82-year-old labor leader, speaks to militant coal miners, on the steps of the West Virginia Capitol, July 22, 1905. Speech Financial panic plunges stock market, economic depression begins Mar. 13, 1907. William E. Bora h warns of spreading 'anarchy,' during trial of 'Big Bill' Haywood for conspiracy to murder, Boise, ID, Jul. 25, 1907.

Speech Ford's introduces Model T car. Price, $850, Oct. 1, 1908. William Howard Taft, in his inaugural address, pledges four-more years of Roosevelt Republicanism, Mar. 4, 1909. Speech National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded, 1909.