Compare And Contrast Abraham Lincoln And Manifest Destiny

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Abraham Lincoln is a man held in high regard by most present day Americans. He 's a prominent historical figure, and always seems to be depicted as a gleaming example of a truly wonderful person. I grew up thinking of him as an extremely admirable person for his time, a savior bravely facing down the southern Democrats and Confederates while he single-handedly brought about the end of slavery. What I appreciated so much about Slavery, Race, and Conquest in the Tropics was that it easily disproved previous notions I 've had about the topic of Abraham Lincoln and the Manifest Destiny. My knowledge of these subjects before reading May 's work was vastly different than my knowledge of them now, and this response paper is about comparing and contrasting …show more content…

As we discussed in class, most people aren 't aware of the southward goals because our ancestors never achieved them, and so that aspect of Manifest Destiny was just forgotten. Still, I never knew that in the 1800s, it was very much a reality for American citizens that Cuba and other Latin American countries could fall under their control. I also didn 't realize how much Latin America as a whole influenced the United States during this time period. In general, I had no idea that people in the nineteenth century gave any thought to what lay to the south, so it becomes rather complicated for me to choose exactly what information was new to me. Looking back, I now realize that my knowledge of the subject was all around rather ignorant, and so I 'm thankful to have read May 's portrayal of …show more content…

Lincoln freed the slaves, Manifest Destiny was good, and America always does what 's right. It 's refreshing to enroll in college courses that teach the same information, yet manage to capture the whole image of history, even when it isn 't the most flattering. May 's Slavery, Race, and Conquest in the Tropics certainly complicated my knowledge about two subjects I mistakenly thought I knew rather well, but it does so in a way that makes me grateful. I 'm glad to have learned about the uglier side of both Manifest Destiny and Abraham Lincoln, because now I can affirm that I have a more wholesome and accurate depiction of what this time period stood

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