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Abraham Lincoln on slavery and freedom
Abraham Lincoln on slavery and freedom
Last debate between lincoln and Douglas
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Before engaging in the debates with Senator Stephen A. Douglas, Lincoln was relatively unknown in the political world and was just beginning his career in politics. Abraham Lincoln’s reputation was just starting to grow, and his life was about to make a drastic change. The Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 were a turning point in Abraham Lincoln’s political career.
After being nominated to the Illinois legislature, Lincoln gave his famous “House Divided” speech which caused much grief between the North and the South.
A short while after he was nominated, Lincoln challenged Stephen A. Douglas to a series of debates. Douglas quickly accepted, and named seven sites in Illinois for these debates. Lincoln could have proved his stand against slavery in a Senate debate, but the debates with Douglas received a lot of national recognition.
The first of the seven joint debates took place in Ottawa, Illinois. Lincoln spoke in a totally contrasting style than Douglas. Douglas was offensive and wanted to make his point known. Although the audience was amused, his Republican Party was not. They wanted Lincoln to be more aggressive in the next debate. Lincoln had never been applauded and didn’t know what to make of it. He now knew that there were people on his side.
At the second debate at Freeport, Lincoln, he pledged that it was Congress’ right and duty to terminate sl...
The Lincoln-Douglas debates were part of a larger campaign to achieve political adjectives from the two. Lincoln was running for Douglas’ seat in the senate as a republican. Douglas had been a member of congress since 1843, a national figure for the Democratic Party, who was running for re-election. The debates attracted national attentions, mostly due to Douglas’ persona. Lincoln took advantage and made a name for himself as a prominent contender in national politics. At the time, the Democratic Party was going through a sectional riff, at the time of the debates. Douglas had recently gone against president Buchanan and the southern democrats when he apposed the admission of Kansas as a slave state. Douglass was against the Lecompton constitution; the stand was popular among republicans. The outcome, would have maintained the unity between the Nor and south sections of the Democratic Party. Buchanan, along with the southern democrats, were in favor of Lincolns candidacy, they feared Douglas’ going interest, and for his lack of support to the Democratic leaders. With Douglas receiving support from republicans, Lincoln would have to keep Illinois republicans from supporting Douglas. Lincoln would use the morality of slavery to wedge support away from Douglas’ famous popular sovereignty, while winning support of abolitionist. The house divided quote Lincoln used in his speech was taken from Mark 3:25.
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858 was a very influential event that occurred in American history and has much significance, even till this day. The debates were in contest for the United States Senate seat in Illinois. The main topic involved in the debates was based around slavery and the separation of the union because of it. Both Lincoln and Douglas refer to the U.S. Constitution in their remarks and state different opinions surrounding what they interpret the meaning of certain parts regarding slavery to be.
"We must not disturb slavery in the states where it exists, because the Constitution and the peace of the country both forbid us. We must not withhold an efficient fugitive slave law, because the constitution demands it. But we must, by a national policy, prevent the spread of slavery into new territories, or free states, because the constitution does not forbid us, and the general welfare does demand such prevention.” (Lincoln) Mr. Lincoln’s views were so polarizing that he finished with less than forty percent of the popular vote. However, do to the lack of unity in the Democratic Party; he still managed to triumph and successfully...
One of Lincoln’s most famous quotes is “A House divided against itself cannot stand.” This describes his presidency well- focusing on maintaining the Union. In the beginning, Lincoln tried to stay out of sensitive affairs involving the North and South in an attempt to keep them together, promising the South little interference. Despite this, he played a key role in passing the Thirteenth Amendment, doing whatever it takes to end slavery for good and ending the Civil War.
While winning the popular vote, he didn’t win the election. Despite this lose, his “House Divided” speech was well received among northern and southerners alike. He quotes the Bible saying, “A house divided against itself cannot stand”. He references two examples that were dividing Americans in 1858, Bleeding Kansas and the Supreme Court ruling of the Dread Scott case. While both of these are taught in any American history class individually. Lincoln references them both for their similarities. Both were cases that were over the matter of slavery. Slavery at this point had divided the nation in half, the slave holding south and the free states in the north, with people on both sides sympathizing for the others cause. With new territories being settled and becoming states over time, the United States government had to find ways to appease both anti and pro slavery state governments and keep an even keel in the house of representatives. This led to the Missouri Compromise and then to the Kansas Nebraska Act. After “Bleeding Kansas” it was obvious that this had only further divided the country and would inevitably lead to a civil
In 1960, Ali had secured a pot on the U.S. Olympic boxing team. He went to Rome, Italy, to fight. He stood in at 6 feet 3 inches tall; Ali was a great figure in the ring. He was remembered for his footwork, and for having a powerful punch. After winning his first three fights, Ali beat Zbigniew Pietrzkowski from Poland to win a gold medal after this Olympic win, A...
The speech President Lincoln gave to congress on June 16, 1964, was marked as one of the greatest speeches of all time. The famous quote by President Lincoln, “A house divided against itself, will not stand” was the motto for the civil war. What he meant by that was the United States was no longer united. That if we continue to fight amongst ourselves that we would not, as a single united country, prosper. The speech took a great toll on the congress and it was decided that it would be in the country’s best interest if slavery would be illegalized in the United States of America.
The Illinois Senate race of 1858 between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas had famous Lincoln- Douglas debates that helped elevate Lincoln to a higher star status within the Republican party which greatly influenced his popularity for the 1860 presidential elections. Douglas’ Freeport Doctrine decreased Douglas’ influence and popularity in the South, making the election of 1860 largely sectional which the more populated, more Republican North won. The underlying discussion over slavery ─ i.e. Dred Scott decision, Freeport Doctrine, etc. ─ brought up the ideological debate of the position and place of blacks, thus the ideological battle of race in America that was fought and largely dominated by the South for almost a century. Without the crisis of the 1850’s and what was the central debate at the time. Neither the Civil War, fourteenth through fifteenth amendment, nor the ideological battle over rave would have happened when they did.
Abraham Lincoln’s original views on slavery were formed through the way he was raised and the American customs of the period. Throughout Lincoln’s influential years, slavery was a recognized and a legal institution in the United States of America. Even though Lincoln began his career by declaring that he was “anti-slavery,” he was not likely to agree to instant emancipation. However, although Lincoln did not begin as a radical anti-slavery Republican, he eventually issued his Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves and in his last speech, even recommended extending voting to blacks. Although Lincoln’s feeling about blacks and slavery was quite constant over time, the evidence found between his debate with Stephen A. Douglas and his Gettysburg Address, proves that his political position and actions towards slavery have changed profoundly.
One the black soldier had fought for the Union, wrote Frederick Douglass, “there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right of citizenship in the United States.” Lincoln exhibited a remarkable ability to alter his attitudes according to circumstance. He sincerely admired black soldiers during the Civil War. In June 1864, Lincoln called on the party to “put into the platform as the keystone, the amendment of the Constitution abolishing and prohibiting slavery forever.” The party promptly called for the Thirteenth Amendment.
Boxer Muhammad Ali, was born as Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., on January 17, 1942, he was the son of Marcellus Clay Sr. and Odessa Grady Clay. He lived in Louisville, Kentucky where he experienced discrimination and racial prejudice towards himself and his family, which led him to his fascination towards boxing. Later in his life, he would win the Olympic gold medal for boxing in 1960 and became the world heavyweight boxing champion in 1964, and was the first fighter to recapture heavyweight champion three times. But Clay was not only a boxer, he was also a philanthropist and social activist with astonishing effrontery, he spoke out against problems such as race, religion, and politics that cause him to become such a controversial figure.
Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. later known as Muhammad Ali, was a black boxer, and was proud of it. Many African Americans were ashamed of their color, but Ali was different. He was the first boxer to win the Heavyweight Championship 3 different times. He had a great personality and was liked by the people. During his life, he made big decisions that changed the course of his life completely. Muhammad Ali's journey through life was a great inspiration for African American people, but Ali himself deserves the admiration of everyone.
Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. also known as Muhammad Ali is a famous and a very talented boxer. He was born on January 17, 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky. Cassius, named after his father, grew up in a good home. He had both parents and was the older of two brothers. His father painted billboard and signs for a living while his mother was a stay at home mom.
His bold public persona described or showed what was happening in Clay's personal life. However, Clay did some soul searching and he decided to join the Nation of Islam, in 1964. The Nation of Islam was a black Muslim group. Clay went with the name Cassius X, but he later changed his name again to Muhammad Ali. Two years later, he picked a fight that did
Muhammad Ali started off as Cassius Clay of Louisville who goes to a local store in search of merchandise and leaves his bike sitting unchained outside of the store. When he comes back the bike is gone and Clay is furious. He hunts for the nearest police officer in hopes of getting his bike back somehow, but the police officer could not help him and Clays vow to beat up the culprit (Ezra 7). Clay ironically took up boxing several months after the ruling of the Brown v. Board of Education court case. The story of Clay meeting Joe Martin is one of the defining moments in the man that would become Ali’s boxing career (Ezra 7). Without that moment in history you can validly argue that Muhammad Ali might have never became the legend that we know today.