LAD #22: McKinley's War Message

McKinley's request for war was the opposite of his original ideas of neutrality towards Cuba's situation. Earlier, he thought Cuba was a lost cause and should be ignored, and that he should just follow Grant in leaving the situation be. However, he had a change of heart for multiple reasons and wanted a military intervention. He wanted to end the misery of the war in Cuba for humanitarian reasons, he thought America was obligated to protect Cuba, he thought it was hurting commerce, and, most important of all, he thought that the war endangered American peace and that it was expensive. This is another example of McKinley waging war only to please a bunch of people.




A situation similar to this one was when Woodrow Wilson gave a message asking to declare war. He was asking Congress, as was McKinley, to declare war against Germany. The presidents were similar because they had many reasons, keeping the United States' needs at heart, to want to go to war. 

LAD #21: Carnegie's Gospel of Wealth

Carnegie says that in earlier times there was not that much of a difference between the rich and the poor. That difference has developed, but it is for the better that there is this difference in living, and goes even further to say that it is for the betterment of civilization. He thinks that everyone should be trying to achieve the ability to earn enough money that it takes to live comfortably. He also says that there are three ways that someone with a lot of money can use their money. They can leave it for their descendants, they can leave it after death to public progress, or they can give it away during their lifetime. He says that the first way is unfair and uses the high class in Europe as an example to show why this idea fails. He also questions the second way because after death, a person can not garauntee that their wealth is being used for the purpose that it was intended for. He does believe in the third idea. Carnegie believes that this is the best solution to the unequal distribution of wealth that is different from a communist overthrow of the governmental system, but is actually an evolution of it. The extra money of the wealthy will become the money of lots of individual administers that will use it for the common good. It will go from being a large amount of money, to being small amounts of money amongst many people.

I connected this to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation because Bill Gates is also a very wealthy man, and he practices philanthropy by routinely giving money away. A way he does this is through his foundation, which sponsors many grants and scholorships. This gives a lot of his extra wealth away to other individuals as Carnegie expresses in his gospel of wealth.

LAD #20: Emancipation Proclamation

The Emancipation Proclamation was issued on September 22, 1862 and was in effect January 1, 1863. In the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln says that any and all slaves held in any states or parts of the states were no free, and that the executive branch, including the military, would help recognize and enforces the freedoms of all these people. He goes on to say that any states that maintain slavery will be considered in rebellion from the United States of America and that those states will not have representation in Congress. He also lists the southern states that are in rebellion and declares that the slaves that are in those states are also free from now on and will be supported by the government and the military. Lincoln then addresses the newly freed people and tells them to avoid violence and tells them that they are now allowed to join the military of the Union.

Although nothing can really be compared to the Emancipation Proclomation since it was such an important declaration, I would synthesize Harriet Tubman to it. I would do so because Lincoln did, in the end, free all the slaves in the country but Harriet Tubman risked her life time and time again in order to free slaves to the North. She helped further the movement which resulted in the Emancipation Proclamation.

LAD #19: Lincoln's 2nd Inaugural Address

Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address was short to say the least. Straight from the beginning, Lincoln says that there is not that much new news to tell the nation and that the general public knew about the progression of the war as well as he did. He also says that his first inaugural address was all about saving the nation without war, but now war was happening because the parties could not get along with each other. Continuing on, he talks a little bit about how slavery led to the war and how the war has exceeded the worst expectations of both the confederacy and the union. He also speaks of God and how both sides of the war had prayed to God, but that he believes that God has his own plan. He concludes by saying that he will complete the war, repair the nation and care for the soldiers.


This can be synthesized to one of Franklin Deleanor Roosevelt's inaugural speeches which he gave during war time, as Lincoln did in his address. FDR's first inaugural address was also like Lincoln's first because they both wanted to help the nation without war, and they were each handed the nation in a trying time- Lincoln during the abolitionist movement and FDR during the Great Depression.

Blog #18: Dred Scott Decision

In the Dred Scott case, the court originally sided with Sanford. How constitutional or unconstitutional the Missouri Compromise was, along with many other factors that were not taken into consideration.The issue of citizenship and the Missouri Compromise were eventually given off to Justice Nelson to rewrite and decide. Judge Roger Taney was given final say on the decision, however, because Justice Nelson supposedly did not represent the views of the entire group, while Justice Taney did. African American people were not considered citizens of the U.S and therefore they would not be allowed to sue in court. He also decided that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional because territories could not deny freedoms of speech, right to life and rights to property, which were all founding principles of this country. Since slaveholders above the 36 30 parallel didn't have a right to their property (as slaves were considered property) it was unconstitutional. Because of this, Dred Scott was not considered free because he was going to live in Illinois. Scott tried to sue for his freedom but, since he was not considered a citizen he didn't have the right to sue in court. In the end the case was thrown out and Scott remained a slave, which is unfortunate because if he had won- it could have been a big step towards racial equality. 

The Dred Scott case can be related to the three-fifths compromise, because it really stems back to that. The compromise was made when the foundations of the country were being established. During this, the slaves were not considered citizens and were only counted as 3/5 of a person. Similarly, in the Scott case- Dred Scott was not considered a citizen of the United States just because he was African American

Blog #17: Aint I a Woman

Sojourner Truth delivered her famous speech in Ohio. She first says that with so much going on there had to be something wrong, and she said that it must have to do with the African Americans in the south and the women in the north, two oppressed groups, talking about their rights. One forceful point that she states is that men always say that women should be treated with good manners, but she never receives any of it. And isn't she a woman, she asks, and talks about all the hard work she has done, and how she never received anything good for it- she only received punishment.She goes on to refute the point about intellect, because everyone should be given the same rights no matter how smart, or dumb they might be.
She closes by saying that if the first woman God created, Eve, was enough to turn the world upside down, then all the women in the world were strong enough to turn the world right side up again, and the men could not stop them.

Susan B. Anthony can be related to Sojourner Truth because they were both very influential figures in the fight for women's rights and equality. Truth gave her widely recognized speech which helped further the movement, and Susan B Anthony did things such as organizing conferences. 

Blog #16: 5th of July Speech

Douglass begins his speech by addressing the white American citizens and asking them what their national independence has to do with him and what his and other black Americans' independence has to do with the white Americans. In using this rhetoric, he is trying to get the audience to start thinking about these questions and the answers to them. He goes on to say that their freedom, rights and independence further divides the two races. This makes sense to "white America" because the white people are generally better off then many of the African-American people in the United States, especially slaves. Douglas gives the audience a type of guilt trip because he really makes them think about the way other people, such as slaves, are being treated. He concludes his speech by stating that "... we are called upon to prove that we are men!" and this goes on to highlight the mistreatment and oppression that slaves have to deal with every single day.

Another group that was overlooked during a lot of the same times as African-Americans were overlooked, and even after that, were women. This picture shows a fight for equality that was similar to that of slaves, and then later on oppressed African-Americans. Both groups fought for their rights, rights that were supposedly the simplest rights of all that they were supposed to have as American citizens.