Learning Standards
11.4 – The student will read, comprehend, and analyze relationships among American literature, history, and culture.
11.4.c – Discuss American literature as it reflects traditional and contemporary themes, motifs, universal characters, and genres.
11.4.d – Interpret the social or cultural function of American literature.
11.4.k – Compare/contrast literary and informational nonfiction texts.
11.5 – The student will read, interpret, analyze, and evaluate a variety of nonfiction texts including employment documents and technical writing.
11.5.i – Generate and respond logically to literal, inferential, evaluative, synthesizing, and critical thinking questions about the text(s).
Learning Objective
The student will compare and contrast the appeals, rhetorical devices, arguments, and evidence provided in the three speeches read yesterday.
Speech Comparison Chart
Yesterday’s lesson focused on three important speeches from America’s history; today you will compare and contrast these speeches by filling in the attached comparison chart. Be sure to use specific evidence to show an understanding of them. Submit the chart when it is completed.
Comparison Chart
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CLICK HERE(OPENS IN A NEW TAB)
Reference
Speeches of the Era
As you close your time on this era of literature that spans the entire 1800s, you will take a look at three speeches that tie together themes not only from this module but also from the class as a whole. As you read through these speeches, consider the Bible verse above. Think about whether these speeches convey wisdom and speak out for justice.
In your next lesson, you will complete a comparison of the three speeches. Today, you should closely read the introductory material and the speeches. For each speech, take some notes on each of the following areas: tone, rhetorical appeals, purpose, and evidence (the support provided for each point). You will use these notes to complete tomorrow’s lesson.
Speech 1: “The Gettysburg Address”
The Battle of Gettysburg was fought from July 1-3, 1863. The Northern (Union) forces defeated the Southern (Confederate) forces, but the losses were staggering—over fifty thousand men were killed or wounded. On November 19, Abraham Lincoln delivered the now-famous “Gettysburg Address” at a ceremony dedicating a national cemetery on the battle site.
Four score 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.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln
Speech 2: “Equal Rights Now”
After the North won the war, the nation passed the Thirteenth Amendment, which outlawed slavery. Sojourner Truth, a former slave and progressive-minded advocate for the rights of both blacks and women, presented the following speech to the American Equal Rights Association. The year was 1867, just two years after the Thirteenth Amendment was passed, but Sojourner Truth knew there was more to be done.
My friends, I am rejoiced that you are glad, but I don’t know how you will feel when I get through. I come from another field-the country of the slave. They have got their liberty-so much good luck to have slavery partly destroyed; not entirely. I want it root and branch destroyed. Then we will all be free indeed. I feel that if I have to answer for the deeds done in my body just as much as a man, I have a right to have just as much as a man. There is a great stir about colored men getting their rights, but not a word about the colored women; and if colored men get their rights, and not colored women theirs, you see the colored men will be masters over the women, and it will be just as bad as it was before. So I am for keeping the thing going while things are stirring; because if we wait till it is still, it will take a great while to got it going again. . . .I want women to have their rights. In the courts women have no right, no voice; nobody speaks for them. I wish woman to have her voice there among the pettifoggers. If it is not a fit place for women, it is unfit for men to be there.
I am above eighty years old; it is about time for me to be going. I have been forty years a slave and forty years free, and would be here forty years more to have equal rights for all. I suppose I am kept here because something remains for me to do, I suppose I am yet to help to break the chain. I have done a great deal of work; as much as a man, but did not get so much pay. I used to work in the field and bind grain, keeping up with the cradler; but men doing no more, got twice as much pay; so with the German women. They work in the field and do as much work, but do not got the pay. We do as much, we eat as much, we want as much. I suppose I am about the only colored woman that goes about to speak for the rights of the colored women. I want to keep the thing stirring, now that the ice is cracked. What we want is a little money. You men know that you get as much again as women when you write, or for what you do. When we get our rights we shall not have to come to you for money, for then we shall have money enough in our own pockets; and may be you will ask us for money. But help us now until we get it. It is a good consolation to know that when we have got this battle once fought we shall not be coming to you any more. You have been having our rights so long, that you think, like a slave-holder, that you own us. I know that it is hard for one who has held the reins for so long to give up; it cuts like a knife. It will feel all the better when it closes up again. I have been in Washington about three years, seeing about these colored people. Now colored men have the right to vote. There ought to be equal rights now more than ever, since colored people have got their freedom.
Sojourner Truth
Speech 3: “I Will Fight No More Forever”
With the Civil War ending in the East, conflicts with the Native Americans continued as Eastern settlers moved westward. Chief Joseph has become a symbol of the fighting spirit of the Nez Perce people, whom he led in resistance against white settlers taking over their land in the Oregon Territory. During battles throughout 1877, Chief Joseph fought thirteen different U.S. Military Commands before making a one-thousand-mile retreat toward Canada through the Pacific Northwest. His caravan, which included women and children, made it to within thirty miles of the border before near-starvation forced them to surrender after eleven weeks of flight. Upon surrendering, Chief Joseph offered this address to the U.S. Army.
Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before, I have it in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our Chiefs are killed; Looking Glass is dead, Ta Hool Hool Shute is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are – perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my Chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.
Chief Joseph
References
Speeches of the Era
As you close your time on this era of literature that spans the entire 1800s, you will take a look at three speeches that tie together themes not only from this module but also from the class as a whole. As you read through these speeches, consider the Bible verse above. Think about whether these speeches convey wisdom and speak out for justice.
In your next lesson, you will complete a comparison of the three speeches. Today, you should closely read the introductory material and the speeches. For each speech, take some notes on each of the following areas: tone, rhetorical appeals, purpose, and evidence (the support provided for each point). You will use these notes to complete tomorrow’s lesson.
Speech 1: “The Gettysburg Address”
The Battle of Gettysburg was fought from July 1-3, 1863. The Northern (Union) forces defeated the Southern (Confederate) forces, but the losses were staggering—over fifty thousand men were killed or wounded. On November 19, Abraham Lincoln delivered the now-famous “Gettysburg Address” at a ceremony dedicating a national cemetery on the battle site.
Four score 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.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln
Speech 2: “Equal Rights Now”
After the North won the war, the nation passed the Thirteenth Amendment, which outlawed slavery. Sojourner Truth, a former slave and progressive-minded advocate for the rights of both blacks and women, presented the following speech to the American Equal Rights Association. The year was 1867, just two years after the Thirteenth Amendment was passed, but Sojourner Truth knew there was more to be done.
My friends, I am rejoiced that you are glad, but I don’t know how you will feel when I get through. I come from another field-the country of the slave. They have got their liberty-so much good luck to have slavery partly destroyed; not entirely. I want it root and branch destroyed. Then we will all be free indeed. I feel that if I have to answer for the deeds done in my body just as much as a man, I have a right to have just as much as a man. There is a great stir about colored men getting their rights, but not a word about the colored women; and if colored men get their rights, and not colored women theirs, you see the colored men will be masters over the women, and it will be just as bad as it was before. So I am for keeping the thing going while things are stirring; because if we wait till it is still, it will take a great while to got it going again. . . .I want women to have their rights. In the courts women have no right, no voice; nobody speaks for them. I wish woman to have her voice there among the pettifoggers. If it is not a fit place for women, it is unfit for men to be there.
I am above eighty years old; it is about time for me to be going. I have been forty years a slave and forty years free, and would be here forty years more to have equal rights for all. I suppose I am kept here because something remains for me to do, I suppose I am yet to help to break the chain. I have done a great deal of work; as much as a man, but did not get so much pay. I used to work in the field and bind grain, keeping up with the cradler; but men doing no more, got twice as much pay; so with the German women. They work in the field and do as much work, but do not got the pay. We do as much, we eat as much, we want as much. I suppose I am about the only colored woman that goes about to speak for the rights of the colored women. I want to keep the thing stirring, now that the ice is cracked. What we want is a little money. You men know that you get as much again as women when you write, or for what you do. When we get our rights we shall not have to come to you for money, for then we shall have money enough in our own pockets; and may be you will ask us for money. But help us now until we get it. It is a good consolation to know that when we have got this battle once fought we shall not be coming to you any more. You have been having our rights so long, that you think, like a slave-holder, that you own us. I know that it is hard for one who has held the reins for so long to give up; it cuts like a knife. It will feel all the better when it closes up again. I have been in Washington about three years, seeing about these colored people. Now colored men have the right to vote. There ought to be equal rights now more than ever, since colored people have got their freedom.
Sojourner Truth
Speech 3: “I Will Fight No More Forever”
With the Civil War ending in the East, conflicts with the Native Americans continued as Eastern settlers moved westward. Chief Joseph has become a symbol of the fighting spirit of the Nez Perce people, whom he led in resistance against white settlers taking over their land in the Oregon Territory. During battles throughout 1877, Chief Joseph fought thirteen different U.S. Military Commands before making a one-thousand-mile retreat toward Canada through the Pacific Northwest. His caravan, which included women and children, made it to within thirty miles of the border before near-starvation forced them to surrender after eleven weeks of flight. Upon surrendering, Chief Joseph offered this address to the U.S. Army.
Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before, I have it in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our Chiefs are killed; Looking Glass is dead, Ta Hool Hool Shute is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are – perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my Chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.
Chief Joseph
References
Speeches of the Era
As you close your time on this era of literature that spans the entire 1800s, you will take a look at three speeches that tie together themes not only from this module but also from the class as a whole. As you read through these speeches, consider the Bible verse above. Think about whether these speeches convey wisdom and speak out for justice.
In your next lesson, you will complete a comparison of the three speeches. Today, you should closely read the introductory material and the speeches. For each speech, take some notes on each of the following areas: tone, rhetorical appeals, purpose, and evidence (the support provided for each point). You will use these notes to complete tomorrow’s lesson.
Speech 1: “The Gettysburg Address”
The Battle of Gettysburg was fought from July 1-3, 1863. The Northern (Union) forces defeated the Southern (Confederate) forces, but the losses were staggering—over fifty thousand men were killed or wounded. On November 19, Abraham Lincoln delivered the now-famous “Gettysburg Address” at a ceremony dedicating a national cemetery on the battle site.
Four score 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.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln
Speech 2: “Equal Rights Now”
After the North won the war, the nation passed the Thirteenth Amendment, which outlawed slavery. Sojourner Truth, a former slave and progressive-minded advocate for the rights of both blacks and women, presented the following speech to the American Equal Rights Association. The year was 1867, just two years after the Thirteenth Amendment was passed, but Sojourner Truth knew there was more to be done.
My friends, I am rejoiced that you are glad, but I don’t know how you will feel when I get through. I come from another field-the country of the slave. They have got their liberty-so much good luck to have slavery partly destroyed; not entirely. I want it root and branch destroyed. Then we will all be free indeed. I feel that if I have to answer for the deeds done in my body just as much as a man, I have a right to have just as much as a man. There is a great stir about colored men getting their rights, but not a word about the colored women; and if colored men get their rights, and not colored women theirs, you see the colored men will be masters over the women, and it will be just as bad as it was before. So I am for keeping the thing going while things are stirring; because if we wait till it is still, it will take a great while to got it going again. . . .I want women to have their rights. In the courts women have no right, no voice; nobody speaks for them. I wish woman to have her voice there among the pettifoggers. If it is not a fit place for women, it is unfit for men to be there.
I am above eighty years old; it is about time for me to be going. I have been forty years a slave and forty years free, and would be here forty years more to have equal rights for all. I suppose I am kept here because something remains for me to do, I suppose I am yet to help to break the chain. I have done a great deal of work; as much as a man, but did not get so much pay. I used to work in the field and bind grain, keeping up with the cradler; but men doing no more, got twice as much pay; so with the German women. They work in the field and do as much work, but do not got the pay. We do as much, we eat as much, we want as much. I suppose I am about the only colored woman that goes about to speak for the rights of the colored women. I want to keep the thing stirring, now that the ice is cracked. What we want is a little money. You men know that you get as much again as women when you write, or for what you do. When we get our rights we shall not have to come to you for money, for then we shall have money enough in our own pockets; and may be you will ask us for money. But help us now until we get it. It is a good consolation to know that when we have got this battle once fought we shall not be coming to you any more. You have been having our rights so long, that you think, like a slave-holder, that you own us. I know that it is hard for one who has held the reins for so long to give up; it cuts like a knife. It will feel all the better when it closes up again. I have been in Washington about three years, seeing about these colored people. Now colored men have the right to vote. There ought to be equal rights now more than ever, since colored people have got their freedom.
Sojourner Truth
Speech 3: “I Will Fight No More Forever”
With the Civil War ending in the East, conflicts with the Native Americans continued as Eastern settlers moved westward. Chief Joseph has become a symbol of the fighting spirit of the Nez Perce people, whom he led in resistance against white settlers taking over their land in the Oregon Territory. During battles throughout 1877, Chief Joseph fought thirteen different U.S. Military Commands before making a one-thousand-mile retreat toward Canada through the Pacific Northwest. His caravan, which included women and children, made it to within thirty miles of the border before near-starvation forced them to surrender after eleven weeks of flight. Upon surrendering, Chief Joseph offered this address to the U.S. Army.
Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before, I have it in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our Chiefs are killed; Looking Glass is dead, Ta Hool Hool Shute is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are – perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my Chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.
Chief Joseph
References
Speeches of the Era
As you close your time on this era of literature that spans the entire 1800s, you will take a look at three speeches that tie together themes not only from this module but also from the class as a whole. As you read through these speeches, consider the Bible verse above. Think about whether these speeches convey wisdom and speak out for justice.
In your next lesson, you will complete a comparison of the three speeches. Today, you should closely read the introductory material and the speeches. For each speech, take some notes on each of the following areas: tone, rhetorical appeals, purpose, and evidence (the support provided for each point). You will use these notes to complete tomorrow’s lesson.
Speech 1: “The Gettysburg Address”
The Battle of Gettysburg was fought from July 1-3, 1863. The Northern (Union) forces defeated the Southern (Confederate) forces, but the losses were staggering—over fifty thousand men were killed or wounded. On November 19, Abraham Lincoln delivered the now-famous “Gettysburg Address” at a ceremony dedicating a national cemetery on the battle site.
Four score 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.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln
Speech 2: “Equal Rights Now”
After the North won the war, the nation passed the Thirteenth Amendment, which outlawed slavery. Sojourner Truth, a former slave and progressive-minded advocate for the rights of both blacks and women, presented the following speech to the American Equal Rights Association. The year was 1867, just two years after the Thirteenth Amendment was passed, but Sojourner Truth knew there was more to be done.
My friends, I am rejoiced that you are glad, but I don’t know how you will feel when I get through. I come from another field-the country of the slave. They have got their liberty-so much good luck to have slavery partly destroyed; not entirely. I want it root and branch destroyed. Then we will all be free indeed. I feel that if I have to answer for the deeds done in my body just as much as a man, I have a right to have just as much as a man. There is a great stir about colored men getting their rights, but not a word about the colored women; and if colored men get their rights, and not colored women theirs, you see the colored men will be masters over the women, and it will be just as bad as it was before. So I am for keeping the thing going while things are stirring; because if we wait till it is still, it will take a great while to got it going again. . . .I want women to have their rights. In the courts women have no right, no voice; nobody speaks for them. I wish woman to have her voice there among the pettifoggers. If it is not a fit place for women, it is unfit for men to be there.
I am above eighty years old; it is about time for me to be going. I have been forty years a slave and forty years free, and would be here forty years more to have equal rights for all. I suppose I am kept here because something remains for me to do, I suppose I am yet to help to break the chain. I have done a great deal of work; as much as a man, but did not get so much pay. I used to work in the field and bind grain, keeping up with the cradler; but men doing no more, got twice as much pay; so with the German women. They work in the field and do as much work, but do not got the pay. We do as much, we eat as much, we want as much. I suppose I am about the only colored woman that goes about to speak for the rights of the colored women. I want to keep the thing stirring, now that the ice is cracked. What we want is a little money. You men know that you get as much again as women when you write, or for what you do. When we get our rights we shall not have to come to you for money, for then we shall have money enough in our own pockets; and may be you will ask us for money. But help us now until we get it. It is a good consolation to know that when we have got this battle once fought we shall not be coming to you any more. You have been having our rights so long, that you think, like a slave-holder, that you own us. I know that it is hard for one who has held the reins for so long to give up; it cuts like a knife. It will feel all the better when it closes up again. I have been in Washington about three years, seeing about these colored people. Now colored men have the right to vote. There ought to be equal rights now more than ever, since colored people have got their freedom.
Sojourner Truth
Speech 3: “I Will Fight No More Forever”
With the Civil War ending in the East, conflicts with the Native Americans continued as Eastern settlers moved westward. Chief Joseph has become a symbol of the fighting spirit of the Nez Perce people, whom he led in resistance against white settlers taking over their land in the Oregon Territory. During battles throughout 1877, Chief Joseph fought thirteen different U.S. Military Commands before making a one-thousand-mile retreat toward Canada through the Pacific Northwest. His caravan, which included women and children, made it to within thirty miles of the border before near-starvation forced them to surrender after eleven weeks of flight. Upon surrendering, Chief Joseph offered this address to the U.S. Army.
Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before, I have it in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our Chiefs are killed; Looking Glass is dead, Ta Hool Hool Shute is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are – perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my Chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.
Chief Joseph
References
Speeches of the Era
As you close your time on this era of literature that spans the entire 1800s, you will take a look at three speeches that tie together themes not only from this module but also from the class as a whole. As you read through these speeches, consider the Bible verse above. Think about whether these speeches convey wisdom and speak out for justice.
In your next lesson, you will complete a comparison of the three speeches. Today, you should closely read the introductory material and the speeches. For each speech, take some notes on each of the following areas: tone, rhetorical appeals, purpose, and evidence (the support provided for each point). You will use these notes to complete tomorrow’s lesson.
Speech 1: “The Gettysburg Address”
The Battle of Gettysburg was fought from July 1-3, 1863. The Northern (Union) forces defeated the Southern (Confederate) forces, but the losses were staggering—over fifty thousand men were killed or wounded. On November 19, Abraham Lincoln delivered the now-famous “Gettysburg Address” at a ceremony dedicating a national cemetery on the battle site.
Four score 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.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln
Speech 2: “Equal Rights Now”
After the North won the war, the nation passed the Thirteenth Amendment, which outlawed slavery. Sojourner Truth, a former slave and progressive-minded advocate for the rights of both blacks and women, presented the following speech to the American Equal Rights Association. The year was 1867, just two years after the Thirteenth Amendment was passed, but Sojourner Truth knew there was more to be done.
My friends, I am rejoiced that you are glad, but I don’t know how you will feel when I get through. I come from another field-the country of the slave. They have got their liberty-so much good luck to have slavery partly destroyed; not entirely. I want it root and branch destroyed. Then we will all be free indeed. I feel that if I have to answer for the deeds done in my body just as much as a man, I have a right to have just as much as a man. There is a great stir about colored men getting their rights, but not a word about the colored women; and if colored men get their rights, and not colored women theirs, you see the colored men will be masters over the women, and it will be just as bad as it was before. So I am for keeping the thing going while things are stirring; because if we wait till it is still, it will take a great while to got it going again. . . .I want women to have their rights. In the courts women have no right, no voice; nobody speaks for them. I wish woman to have her voice there among the pettifoggers. If it is not a fit place for women, it is unfit for men to be there.
I am above eighty years old; it is about time for me to be going. I have been forty years a slave and forty years free, and would be here forty years more to have equal rights for all. I suppose I am kept here because something remains for me to do, I suppose I am yet to help to break the chain. I have done a great deal of work; as much as a man, but did not get so much pay. I used to work in the field and bind grain, keeping up with the cradler; but men doing no more, got twice as much pay; so with the German women. They work in the field and do as much work, but do not got the pay. We do as much, we eat as much, we want as much. I suppose I am about the only colored woman that goes about to speak for the rights of the colored women. I want to keep the thing stirring, now that the ice is cracked. What we want is a little money. You men know that you get as much again as women when you write, or for what you do. When we get our rights we shall not have to come to you for money, for then we shall have money enough in our own pockets; and may be you will ask us for money. But help us now until we get it. It is a good consolation to know that when we have got this battle once fought we shall not be coming to you any more. You have been having our rights so long, that you think, like a slave-holder, that you own us. I know that it is hard for one who has held the reins for so long to give up; it cuts like a knife. It will feel all the better when it closes up again. I have been in Washington about three years, seeing about these colored people. Now colored men have the right to vote. There ought to be equal rights now more than ever, since colored people have got their freedom.
Sojourner Truth
Speech 3: “I Will Fight No More Forever”
With the Civil War ending in the East, conflicts with the Native Americans continued as Eastern settlers moved westward. Chief Joseph has become a symbol of the fighting spirit of the Nez Perce people, whom he led in resistance against white settlers taking over their land in the Oregon Territory. During battles throughout 1877, Chief Joseph fought thirteen different U.S. Military Commands before making a one-thousand-mile retreat toward Canada through the Pacific Northwest. His caravan, which included women and children, made it to within thirty miles of the border before near-starvation forced them to surrender after eleven weeks of flight. Upon surrendering, Chief Joseph offered this address to the U.S. Army.
Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before, I have it in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our Chiefs are killed; Looking Glass is dead, Ta Hool Hool Shute is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are – perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my Chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.
Chief Joseph
Speeches of the Era
As you close your time on this era of literature that spans the entire 1800s, you will take a look at three speeches that tie together themes not only from this module but also from the class as a whole. As you read through these speeches, consider the Bible verse above. Think about whether these speeches convey wisdom and speak out for justice.
In your next lesson, you will complete a comparison of the three speeches. Today, you should closely read the introductory material and the speeches. For each speech, take some notes on each of the following areas: tone, rhetorical appeals, purpose, and evidence (the support provided for each point). You will use these notes to complete tomorrow’s lesson.
Speech 1: “The Gettysburg Address”
The Battle of Gettysburg was fought from July 1-3, 1863. The Northern (Union) forces defeated the Southern (Confederate) forces, but the losses were staggering—over fifty thousand men were killed or wounded. On November 19, Abraham Lincoln delivered the now-famous “Gettysburg Address” at a ceremony dedicating a national cemetery on the battle site.
Four score 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.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln
Speech 2: “Equal Rights Now”
After the North won the war, the nation passed the Thirteenth Amendment, which outlawed slavery. Sojourner Truth, a former slave and progressive-minded advocate for the rights of both blacks and women, presented the following speech to the American Equal Rights Association. The year was 1867, just two years after the Thirteenth Amendment was passed, but Sojourner Truth knew there was more to be done.
My friends, I am rejoiced that you are glad, but I don’t know how you will feel when I get through. I come from another field-the country of the slave. They have got their liberty-so much good luck to have slavery partly destroyed; not entirely. I want it root and branch destroyed. Then we will all be free indeed. I feel that if I have to answer for the deeds done in my body just as much as a man, I have a right to have just as much as a man. There is a great stir about colored men getting their rights, but not a word about the colored women; and if colored men get their rights, and not colored women theirs, you see the colored men will be masters over the women, and it will be just as bad as it was before. So I am for keeping the thing going while things are stirring; because if we wait till it is still, it will take a great while to got it going again. . . .I want women to have their rights. In the courts women have no right, no voice; nobody speaks for them. I wish woman to have her voice there among the pettifoggers. If it is not a fit place for women, it is unfit for men to be there.
I am above eighty years old; it is about time for me to be going. I have been forty years a slave and forty years free, and would be here forty years more to have equal rights for all. I suppose I am kept here because something remains for me to do, I suppose I am yet to help to break the chain. I have done a great deal of work; as much as a man, but did not get so much pay. I used to work in the field and bind grain, keeping up with the cradler; but men doing no more, got twice as much pay; so with the German women. They work in the field and do as much work, but do not got the pay. We do as much, we eat as much, we want as much. I suppose I am about the only colored woman that goes about to speak for the rights of the colored women. I want to keep the thing stirring, now that the ice is cracked. What we want is a little money. You men know that you get as much again as women when you write, or for what you do. When we get our rights we shall not have to come to you for money, for then we shall have money enough in our own pockets; and may be you will ask us for money. But help us now until we get it. It is a good consolation to know that when we have got this battle once fought we shall not be coming to you any more. You have been having our rights so long, that you think, like a slave-holder, that you own us. I know that it is hard for one who has held the reins for so long to give up; it cuts like a knife. It will feel all the better when it closes up again. I have been in Washington about three years, seeing about these colored people. Now colored men have the right to vote. There ought to be equal rights now more than ever, since colored people have got their freedom.
Sojourner Truth
Speech 3: “I Will Fight No More Forever”
With the Civil War ending in the East, conflicts with the Native Americans continued as Eastern settlers moved westward. Chief Joseph has become a symbol of the fighting spirit of the Nez Perce people, whom he led in resistance against white settlers taking over their land in the Oregon Territory. During battles throughout 1877, Chief Joseph fought thirteen different U.S. Military Commands before making a one-thousand-mile retreat toward Canada through the Pacific Northwest. His caravan, which included women and children, made it to within thirty miles of the border before near-starvation forced them to surrender after eleven weeks of flight. Upon surrendering, Chief Joseph offered this address to the U.S. Army.
Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before, I have it in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our Chiefs are killed; Looking Glass is dead, Ta Hool Hool Shute is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are – perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my Chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.
Chief Joseph
Speeches of the Era
As you close your time on this era of literature that spans the entire 1800s, you will take a look at three speeches that tie together themes not only from this module but also from the class as a whole. As you read through these speeches, consider the Bible verse above. Think about whether these speeches convey wisdom and speak out for justice.
In your next lesson, you will complete a comparison of the three speeches. Today, you should closely read the introductory material and the speeches. For each speech, take some notes on each of the following areas: tone, rhetorical appeals, purpose, and evidence (the support provided for each point). You will use these notes to complete tomorrow’s lesson.
Speech 1: “The Gettysburg Address”
The Battle of Gettysburg was fought from July 1-3, 1863. The Northern (Union) forces defeated the Southern (Confederate) forces, but the losses were staggering—over fifty thousand men were killed or wounded. On November 19, Abraham Lincoln delivered the now-famous “Gettysburg Address” at a ceremony dedicating a national cemetery on the battle site.
Four score 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.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln
Speech 2: “Equal Rights Now”
After the North won the war, the nation passed the Thirteenth Amendment, which outlawed slavery. Sojourner Truth, a former slave and progressive-minded advocate for the rights of both blacks and women, presented the following speech to the American Equal Rights Association. The year was 1867, just two years after the Thirteenth Amendment was passed, but Sojourner Truth knew there was more to be done.
My friends, I am rejoiced that you are glad, but I don’t know how you will feel when I get through. I come from another field-the country of the slave. They have got their liberty-so much good luck to have slavery partly destroyed; not entirely. I want it root and branch destroyed. Then we will all be free indeed. I feel that if I have to answer for the deeds done in my body just as much as a man, I have a right to have just as much as a man. There is a great stir about colored men getting their rights, but not a word about the colored women; and if colored men get their rights, and not colored women theirs, you see the colored men will be masters over the women, and it will be just as bad as it was before. So I am for keeping the thing going while things are stirring; because if we wait till it is still, it will take a great while to got it going again. . . .I want women to have their rights. In the courts women have no right, no voice; nobody speaks for them. I wish woman to have her voice there among the pettifoggers. If it is not a fit place for women, it is unfit for men to be there.
I am above eighty years old; it is about time for me to be going. I have been forty years a slave and forty years free, and would be here forty years more to have equal rights for all. I suppose I am kept here because something remains for me to do, I suppose I am yet to help to break the chain. I have done a great deal of work; as much as a man, but did not get so much pay. I used to work in the field and bind grain, keeping up with the cradler; but men doing no more, got twice as much pay; so with the German women. They work in the field and do as much work, but do not got the pay. We do as much, we eat as much, we want as much. I suppose I am about the only colored woman that goes about to speak for the rights of the colored women. I want to keep the thing stirring, now that the ice is cracked. What we want is a little money. You men know that you get as much again as women when you write, or for what you do. When we get our rights we shall not have to come to you for money, for then we shall have money enough in our own pockets; and may be you will ask us for money. But help us now until we get it. It is a good consolation to know that when we have got this battle once fought we shall not be coming to you any more. You have been having our rights so long, that you think, like a slave-holder, that you own us. I know that it is hard for one who has held the reins for so long to give up; it cuts like a knife. It will feel all the better when it closes up again. I have been in Washington about three years, seeing about these colored people. Now colored men have the right to vote. There ought to be equal rights now more than ever, since colored people have got their freedom.
