In regards to “finding common ground,” it is believed that there is no same person in this country. The human race is different, America has a vast variety of religions, skin color, and ethnic backgrounds. Walking into an amusement park and seeing different people can change a person's view on life. Kofi Annan said, “we may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but we all belong to one human race.” This statement emphasizes that American citizens can live in America with all their differences and work together to actually make America a good country. In this unit, two authors also argued that individuals should find common ground. In an argumentative article by Anna Quindlen, “A Quilt of a Country” argues that …show more content…
In this argumentative article, Quindlen says, “... patriotism is partly taking pride in this unlikely ability to throw all of us together in a country that across its length and breadth is as different as a dozen countries, and still be able to call it by one name” (Pg 6). This quote illustrates that many different people from different ethnic backgrounds are put into America, and yet even though there are different ethnic and religious backgrounds, the country can still be called the United States of America. Therefore, this quote is important because this country utilizes those different ethnic backgrounds to build and make America a country, a better country. Later, the author states, “like many improbable ideas, when it actually works, it’s a wonder” (Quindlen Pg 6). This quote reinforces the idea of unity because in reality America shouldn’t work due to the diversity but it does because America uses the people’s differences to make it a good community and country to live in. Anna Quindlen argues in her article that despite our differences America works and if taken seriously it is true, America can stand with each other even though a lot of us are different from each …show more content…
Lincoln starts off his speech saying, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation… dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” (27). In this quote, Lincoln reveals that America was built on the fact that all men have a fair chance of life in the country. The significance of this quote is America was built off the idea that men are created as equals because it demonstrates how the American people would work better together if men and women had the same chance as everyone, no matter the color or religion. Inevitable, in “The Gettysburg Address” by Abraham Lincoln, argues that the North and the South need to join together again to make America whole again, and this agrees with the fact that our country needs each other in desperate
The ability for people to look at a situation from a different perspective is vital in today’s globalized society. Diversity is the most important core attribute we share that gives us a new perspective to assess situations differently through our diverse backgrounds and upbringings. Unlike Patrick J. Buchanan’s argument in his essay titled “Deconstructing America,” diversity is not a burden, but rather a necessity in America’s culture. Conversely, Fredrickson 's essay titled, “Models of American Ethnic Relations: A Historical Perspective,” illustrated a more precise version of American history that disproves Buchanan’s ethnocentric ideologies. Buchanan speaks of diversity as a narrow, one-way street. The imprecise interpretations of history
Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America "Fourscore and seven years ago ." These are the first 5 of only two hundred seventy-two words that remade America. In Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America, the author, Gary Wills, informed us that Abraham Lincoln wanted equality among us and to unite as one. In Abraham Lincoln's own speech, he would not mention single individuals or even top officers. Everyone was considered as equal importance and was never any different. "Though we call Lincoln's text the Gettysburg Address, that title clearly belongs to Everett." 1 This is very true, which I think is interesting. Everett who was chosen by David Wills to commemorate the National Cemetery of Gettysburg, was supposed to be the speaker while Lincoln was only the dedicatory remarks speaker. Not only did Lincoln have the favorable speech, it was only three minutes while Everett's was two hours long. Lincoln also supposedly was not supposed to be there to speak; he actually just told a correspondent that he would be present. It's amazing to believe that a two hundred seventy-two word speech would say so much to thousands of people.
The Gettysburg Address was not successful when it was first presented to those who attended the dedication for the fallen of the Battle of Gettysburg. Lincoln surprised all at the event with his speech by its shortness. The address is considered to be the definition on the ideas that the United States was founded upon. Before the Civil War began the United States were seen as only a collection of states. The Gettysburg address was an attempt to unite the nation. Lincoln passed on his belief that the nation must be united and that a “new birth of freedom” would be created, or the nation would “perish from the world” if the Union failed.
Anna Quindlen focuses on how different our nation is. She talks about how big issues the United States used to face such as when the Irish and Italians of Boston feuded years ago. She also writes about current issues and groups that still don’t get along with each other, such as the “Cambodians and the Mexicans in California.”(Quilt pg.4) Anna Quindlen also focused on our Country’s diversity, and argues that our diversity is what
Founded by groups as diverse as indigenous Native Americans, Dutch merchants, English separatists, Spanish missionaries, French frontiersman and Africans – both free and enslaved – the country’s diversity stretches back four centuries” (9). America is an extraordinary country. In my opinion, America is the most diverse population and culture. However, exceptional does not necessarily mean better. I have never understood that some Americans have the mindset that they are ‘better’ than other countries. I generally like America, but that is enough for me. I don 't need it to be "better" than other places to be satisfied. I came here to have a better life, better education and to have a better home. However, if American history were full of lies they should make a wise action and should tell the truth and tell what really happened in the past. In my mind today is “Where do we find truth these days?” It is certainly not in the history a state teaches its children, or in the press that props up its leaders. Africans both free and enslaved and immigrants has freedom I just hope that, people of color and Americans have real unity and still respect each other in the future
The article was about America and debating whether it should have a common identity or not? There are many different points that can lead someone to believe one way or another. Some of the important things that are argued to make a point in the article are cultural pluralism and multiculturalism. There is a wide range of people with different diversities and backgrounds that some people do not realize that they do not know what they should follow, as far as their origin goes. People are forgetting where they come from when they get to America. They do not realize that most of the beliefs and ideas have come from Europe. America is known to not know western civilization history. It is not taught in a lot of schools. People are not aware of the history of western civilization, if they were aware of it, they would understand the beliefs that have come from that part of the world and were put together into one land. America is known for being diverse and for the unity that is shown, people are accepting
This essay will discuss the intrinsic relationship between diversity conceptualization and social integration presenting a response against David Brooks’ essay entitled “People Like Us.” In order to do this I will discuss four crucial elements: the influences of different definitions of diversity in cultural unification, Brook’s ideas about social groups working together and social groups coexisting together, the importance of diversity, and the influence of diversity in social changes. I will examine why some people have the perception that our American society ignore or see as unworthy diversity. Thus, I will dispute Brook’s view stating that our society disregards diversity, and Americans just pretend that it is important to them.
Four and a half months after the Union defeated the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863. He gave the Union soldiers a new perspective on the war and a reason to fight in the Civil War. Before the address, the Civil War was based on states’ rights. Lincoln’s speech has the essence of America and the ideals that were instilled in the Declaration of Independence by the Founders. The sixteenth president of the United States was capable of using his speech to turn a war on states’ rights to a war on slavery and upholding the principles that America was founded upon. By turning the Civil War into a war about slavery he effortlessly ensured that no foreign country would recognize the South as an independent nation, ensuring Union success in the war. In his speech, Lincoln used the rhetorical devices of juxtaposition, repetition, and parallelism, to touch the hearts of its listeners.
He wisely used the issue of slavery to appeal to both the abolitionists and to Negrophobes, Northerners who were afraid of living side-by- side with Negroes and competing with them for jobs. For example, on July 10th of 1959, Lincoln gave a speech in Chicago, a primarily abolitionist town. Lincoln stated that inequality was unnecessary in this country. If all men were created equal then were should look past race, saying, “Let us discard all these things, and unite as one people throughout this land, until we shall once more stand up declaring that all men are created equal” (Hofstadter, pg. 148).
Lincoln begins his speech by speaking about the past in which the founding fathers established this country in equality. " Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." This was very important because that was exactly the opposite of what was going on in this country during that time. America in the late 1800s was a time of slavery. That was one of the main reasons the Civil War was declared.
The United States as a country has always been an entity unique amongst the world’s myriad of nations: a conglomeration of cultures, ethnic groups and religious backgrounds from around the planet, all fused together to yield something entirely new. Since its very inception, those who dwell within its borders have attempted to ascertain the makeup of the American identity, in order to pin down how exactly one can come to be considered as an American themselves. This is inherently quite a subjective issue, but the conversation primarily boils down to three core factors that make the American people who they are: a dedication to preserving the natural rights of every human being, a belief in the importance of the individual in deciding their own
Abraham Lincoln, a man of courage, held a positive vision for the future. In his speech, he uses an optimistic tone to encourage his audience that we as a union must come together to help nurture the nation, and bring peace again. In lines 70-76, Abraham Lincoln states, “with malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the Nation's wounds…” According to this quote, the cause of the horrendous civil war is because of evil, and selfishness. Lincoln strongly suggests that we as a nation must have sympathy and affection for each other in order to create a strong, peaceful nation.
In “People Like Us”, the writer talks about tolerance and diversity in the United States. America has for a long time been cited as one of the most diverse countries. Upon investigation of that statement, one will find that it is a fact, for the country is filled with millions of individuals from different ethnic extractions, political affiliations, religion, socioeconomic status, personalities, interests, etc. However, according to “People Like Us”, instead of the population of the country uniting in its diversity and using that as a strength, individuals are trying really hard to distance themselves from others who are not like themselves, and to band themselves together with those who are like them. David
Abraham Lincoln uses numerous rhetorical devices to emphasize his point and better ingrain it in the minds of his audience. The President utilizes archaic diction through by opening his speech with, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth… a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." By applying archaic diction to his speech, Lincoln assures his audience tha...
In the article “Abraham Lincoln’s Invitation to Speak at the Gettysburg and the Meaning of the Gettysburg Address” Roger Norton mentions how President Lincoln’s main goal was to dedicate the battlefield to all the men who died and to explain to the nation why the Civil War was worth fighting for. The beginning of the Gettysburg Address starts with “Four scores and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” many historians believe the President went back to the Declaration of Independence with this opening phrase. Historians have been trying to analyze President Abraham Lincoln’s address; some say he was trying to remind the people on what basis the country was established, which was liberty and equality. Eric Foner mentions in the book “Give Me Liberty! An American History” that Lincoln with his speech “identified the nation’s mission with the principle that “all men are created equal,” spoke of the war as bringing about a “new birth of freedom,” and defined the essence of democratic government” (529).