LAD #20: Emancipation Proclamation

Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation states that at the advent of 1863 all slaves in the states or the parts of states which are in open rebellion with the Union will henceforth be free. He declares that by the power vested in him as Commander-in-Chief he will both militarily and politically, as well as the federal government, support the rights and liberties of these free men against the rebellious states. He then goes on to define what states are in open rebellion which were Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, excluding certain counties, regions and other slave states not in open rebellion, including New Orleans. He also urges freed slaves to avoid violence and become members of society and labor peacefully for wages. As a final blow, he says that the military will accept these freed slaves and they may join the Union army and man stations against those in rebellion. This was his executive proclamation.

LAD #19: Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

To start off his second inaugural Lincoln declares that his speech will be short and concise, contrary to his first as the issues of that day constituted an outline of the path he was going to take the nation. The events currently consuming the nation have made his job and the subsequent outline clear and vivid to the American people. He offers no prediction for the outcome of the war. He states that at the time of his first inaugural, all sought to avoid war and the goal was to preserve the Union, but some sought to dissolve this Union without from within the government. Eventually, some sought to dissolve the Union at the cost of war (South) and the others sought to save the Union through war (North). The issue of the minority slaves was the South's constitution for war, while the Republicans sought only to restrict its "territorial enlargement". They are all Americans of the same God, yet each invokes God's will against the others. Yet, if slavery is the issue God has requested to be revoked and he has sent this war upon those who are to have it pulled form their grasp and if he continues this war until the United States ceases to exist, then it shall be. He concludes by saying, let us make God's will different and finish what we have started, fix our wounds, and welcome back the great Union which was torn from the Earth.

LAD #18: Dred Scott Decision

In 1857 the Supreme Court was back at the task of giving the decision to the controversial Dred Scott vs Sanford case. At first, what was believed to be the majority called for the decision to avoid the touchy subjects of black citizenship and the constitutionality of the Missouri Compromise and make sure they were left unaddressed by the decision. After seeing minority justices takes these into account, the majority put Justice Roger Taney in charge to oversee that these issues were put to the test in the decision. Even President Buchanan highlighted the overarching influence of the Supreme Court in this matter. On the day of the decision, Justice Taney first addressed the question of black citizenship, asking if one who was once property might be able to become a citizen of the Union. He actually stated that the right to sue to the Supreme Court was a right reserved under the Constitution for American citizens, which Dred Scott was not making his case in the court unconstitutional. Next he turned to the Missouri Compromise stating that the federal government in these territories could not works outside its means and violate the right to property American citizens held. As a result, the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional as it had no right to determine the rights to property of an American who just happened to reside there. Dred Scott's last hope of being deemed free was shot down by the ambiguous ruling that the freedom of a slave is ruled by the state he brought suit in, which was the slave state Missouri. In the end, the Supreme Courts decision was upheld in favor of Sanford, a landmark case.

LAD #17: Truth's "Ain't I a Woman?" Speech

Sojourner Truth begins her speech by stating that all the talk of women's rights and abolition is surely to cause a ruckus amongst the hierarchy of white men. She states though  "But what's all this here talking about?'. The white man supposedly is to cater to the woman so that she is comfortable, but Truth has never had such an experience. She has had to live the life of slave hard at work and has borne many a children. Still though, through all this she asks "Ain't I a woman" because she is still seen as nothing more than a Negro. All these women are seeking for equal rights with man, but Truth is still searching for her own equal rights among her own sex. She says that intellect has nothing to do with it, whether true or not, only that women and blacks may have their chance too. She believes there is no reason for women or blacks to be subordinate and they should strive not to be. Amusingly, she ends her moving speech by stating she has nothing more to say.

LAD #16: Douglass's "5th of July" Speech

Frederick Douglass starts off his speech by asking the questions of to what extent are the rights that the white population holds extended to the black or slave population. He wonders who there is that could be so wronged and evil to be against such freedom and joy that is coupled with the abolition of slavery. An irony is provoked in this speech, an irony on how he was called upon to speak about the great independence celebrated in July of our nation, when in fact its independence does not reach to him and his demographic. He even compares this woe to that of the Jews leaving Jerusalem and the despair they felt along the way. His disgust in the joyous cheers of independence is astounding and the American map "never looked blacker to me than on this Fourth of July!", in an ironic sense. He senses that America has also be contradictory and false, in the past, present, and seemingly the future. He will remain movingly adamant in his stance against the American atrocity. He states that he is fighting for the life of men without being made into submissive brutes, while this population is free to their own endeavors and joyous celebrates false "liberty". He concludes that the Fourth of July to a slave is nothing more than a despicable lie and a false sense of egalitarianism that is supposedly a base to a wonderful "democracy". He believes America is not rivaled in its brutality and violation of humanity anywhere on the globe.

LAD #15: Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

The Gettysburg Address was a short speech delievered at Gettysburg by President Lincoln to commerorate and consecrated the bruial ground construction for the brave Union men who had died on that ground. He states that the nation once conceived in liberty is now stuck in a grave and divisive conflict. The battlefield they stand upon and the died whom have died upon it are being dedicated in the right and proper way he states. But what they had done and the blood they had spilled on those hills was the true consecration of the ground which surpassed our feeble ability to do so in remembrance. He states that what may be dedicated here today may be forgotten, but the men who have died must not be forgotten by history. This is because they are to be remembered by the living and used as the dedication for which they must undertake the remaining portion of the great task ahead. It is to make sure that the dead give to the people the same devotion to achieve that they "gave (as) the last full measure of devotion". It must be made so that they might not die in vain and that the democratic principles of government live on in the world.

LAD #14: Lincoln's First Inaugural Address

Lincoln begins his inaugural address by stating southern concerns regarding their rights under his Republican administration will be safeguarded as is defined by the constitution. On the topic of fugitive slaves, he will stand by the constitutional rights of property that the southerners call for. Lincoln stresses that his administration will strictly follow the document that unifies the nation, the Constitution, and that in a time were disruption of the federal union is threatened he will strive to keep the Union in tact. He questions the authority of the Constitution though, if one state has the right to destroy the federal union as outlined in the Constitution, obviously taking an indirect jab at how one state's secession is in fact not legally acceptable and that the Constitution is truly unifying. Eventually, he comes to the specific point of slavery, with which he has been hinting at throughout. At this point he makes sure to state that the Union and the Constitution must be asserted through all the states to ensure its binding effects. But it must be literally used as a guide for union, in that it gives no authority for the government over the abolition or the support of slavery, that is a states right previously noted not to be violated through treasonous military actions of the federal authority. Although the slavery issue may never be settled, he believes that unity amongst the states is paramount as the issues will become ingrained permanently if the union dissolves and the slave issue becomes truly divisive. Although he union of the states is strained, it always has been one of compromise and tension, but these tensions have been put aside in the past for the sake of mutual benefit in the form a union. Secession may lead to the loss of the goal of democracy fought for by the founding fathers. All in all, the speech concludes by again reiterating that the nation must be one of friends with conflicting opinions as a opposed to enemies sharing in each others demise.

LAD #13: Calhoun's Speech

Calhoun starts off bluntly, stating that the Union, or rather disunion, is on the brink of collapse. This is mainly because the South is agitated by the issues of slavery. The masses actually are the source of Southern discontent and have been sought to be quieted by the leaders of both parties in the South, consequentially weakening the party ties they have with the other sections. Still though, Northern pressures on the slave issue have roused a belief that the South can no longer bear the weight of these injustices. This is because the North has gained supremacy and altered the equilibrium of the Constitutional government, which takes away the southern ability to fight oppression. This equilibrium will be permanently destroyed by the admittance of several new "northern" states as well as the next census. He believes this rift was caused by northern control over new territories, the protective tariff, and legislation which favors the North. He states that the North is exerting control over the Mexican Cession, that the protective tariff has reached beyond its original duties, for the benefit of northern business, and that the Land Ordinance of 1787 and the Missouri Compromise have benefited the North. All of these contribute to a Northern control of government as well as increased population and states. Nevertheless, the North has continued to attack the southern institution of slavery, the most divisive topic of all. The cords of democracy have slowly been ripped by the northern agitation of the south and the abolition of slavery will not be the cause of southern secession, it is approaching to fast. In fact, the issue of California will show Northern intentions  in regard to restricting southern influence in the territories. He concludes by stating that this inevitable march toward sectional division has made him give this digression and he has pleaded his case on the subject. In the end he states that when secession finally arrives "I am free from all responsibility".

LAD #12: Polk's War Message

Polk is bringing attention of the current state of affairs between the United States and Mexico, basically a call for the declaration of war. He introduces the topic by outlining the situation, in which the United States, under his guidance, sent an envoy to the Mexico with full powers vested in him to redraw their borders, but was denied diplomatic proceedings by the Mexicans, who in turn have begun to launch attacks on American soil. Next, he addresses the proceedings in depth, telling how following the Mexican affirmation of acceptance he sent John Slidell as an envoy to work on the diplomatic issues of the Texas boundary and the compensation of the citizens of Texas. Following the revolutionary usurpation of the Mexican government, the military leader General Herrera denied Slidell's request on behalf of the new regime of General Paredes. Again, he asked Paredes, who denied his request and left the envoy to go home. Mexican aggression forced Polk to station troops in annexed Texas and protect American interests in the region. Eventually, armed conflict occurred between the belligerent armies. He concludes by stating that Mexican disregard for governmental practice, their odd notion that Texas is somehow theirs, and their general disregard for American safety, commerce, and rights have justified a war between the states, which America must partake in for the good of its liberty and privileges.

LAD #11: Seneca Falls Declaration

The Seneca Falls Declaration of 1848 begins by almost exactly mimicking the Declaration of Independence's introduction and merely adds women into the equation. It states that inalienable rights of man also apply to women and they have to the right to shrug off these abuses by government in favor of a government which supports the rights of women as well. Next, in the style of the original Declaration, the state their "sentiments" or grievances which have led them to meet and draft this document. They include, the lack of the right to vote or partake in the legislative process, the hindering effect marraige has on them, their inability to own private property, their overall subservient nature to men, the unfairness of divorce laws, their inability to gain high-paying professions, the inequality in education, and not being allowed to partake in the actions of the Church. They state that women deserve to be shed of these impediments and that they will do everything in their power to further the rights of women in the future, and proceed to state these issues to be resolved by the natural law of the universe set forth by God. These include, equality of women in government and in regard to men, ending the obedient degradation of women in favor of progressive fighting, the moral authority of women, that men should be just as moral in government as women already are, that women may address the public without ridicule, that women themselves shall move forward as designated by God, women's suffrage, and the combined efforts of men and women to usurp the patrimonial society that they live in.