"The Gettysburg Address"

I can not think of any case in which an American citizen, both born and naturalized, which has never heard anything to do with or about the Gettysburg Address President Abraham Lincoln gave on November 19, 1867. In elementary school, we had to memorize this address and now that I go back and read it after all of this time, I realize why we had to; it is a very powerful albeit important historical speech in a time of great turmoil in the dark period in American history.

Abraham Lincoln is arguably one of the most memorable and important presidents in American history, even though I might be biased because we live in the “Land of Lincoln” but biased or not, he was president during a very influential time. The actions he took would decide the course of this country forever. Just imagine what would America would be like if he would have been on the side of the South instead of the North.

This speech showed a little bit of philosophy similar to Thoreau’s, but most of the time, it was quite different. The only thing that seemed similar would be that Lincoln was most definitely against, slavery, as was Thoreau. That is where I think that the similarities end. Thoreau believed in peaceful protest and change, and Lincoln was using war to resolve the problem. I would like to point out thought that Lincoln did not really have much of a choice; either let the nation be torn apart on the petty subject of slavery, or fight to keep the Union alive. Another difference that Lincoln and Thoreau is the fact that Lincoln holds the soldiers that died at Gettysburg in high honor; they died in service of their country and for the struggle of keeping it together. On this point, I would argue that Thoreau would think that most of them did not all want that, they were only fighting because their government was making them.

Thoeau, Henry David. "Thoreau's Civil Disobedience - 1." The Thoreau Reader. Web. 08 Feb. 2012.

Lincoln, Abraham. "The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln." NetINS Showcase. Web. 08 Feb. 2012.