LAD/Blog #21: Carnegie's Gospel of Wealth

 

 Carnegie's ideas regarding the nature of wealth are expounded upon in his "gospel" He believed that people who inherited money could accomplish nothing more with it than merely living off of it, where people who nurtured and grew their fortunes were the ones who truly prospered. One of the smartest options with money, in Carnegie's opinion, was to try to grow it and always make more. He divided wealth into three categories, those being inheritance, for public purposes, and sums left to the jurisdiction of the one who possessed it. The most realistic option, he said, was the third. Carnegie also believed that the circulation of money was a vital part of social Darwinism, for it separated the rich from the poor and civilization needed to be ruled by the wealthy, in his opinion, for they made the foundations of society. But despite that, the wealthy had to be cautious and set a financial example by not being extravagent with their spending, but modest and smart, cautious investors. And in the end, a duty of the wealthy man was the duty to help his government and fellow man.

LAD/Blog #20: Emancipation Proclamation

 Lincoln's controversial Emancipation Proclamation was made possible because of the victory at Antietam and abolished slavery within the Union, establishing that "all persons held as slaves within any State ... shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free." The government, he attested, would protect these peoples' rights and freedoms and those who tried to deny these rights and freedoms would have to face consequences. Therefore, any state who refused to obey the Proclamation would be deemed a rebel, and the people within it could claim that they themselves were not rebels against the Union, rather, their state was. As commander in chief, Lincoln had certain wartime powers such as sending the US Army and Navy to fight such rebels. He went on to list the areas in which slavery would be illegal, and stated and those areas had to recognize the freedmen's rights and freedoms, and that he wished to engage in violence only as self defense. He concluded by saying that freed slaves had to work faithfully and loyally as American citizens, and could now participate in the military. Lincoln's decision made with the Proclamation was serious, and he meant to enforce it, for it was an act that he "sincerely believed to be an act of justice."

LAD/Blog #19: Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

 
Lincoln entered his second term with the Civil War still raging and the same challenges and struggles still fresh in his mind. The Union had to be rebuilt, and it was his duty to restore it. In his Second Inaugural Address, he stood before United States citizens and recounted the war thus far, detailing political parties and the nature of the slave population in the South, which the South believed would secure them an easy victory. Not so. Both sides, Lincoln said, prayed to the same God, and yet both sides believed that God was on their side, thus pitting God against Himself and leading people to wonder about God's will. Lincoln knew that people wondered how He could let so many citizens perish, and noted that God worked in mysterious and righteous ways. Lincoln's final, resounding message of the Address was one of peace. Peace was attainable, but American people had to help attain it. The people of America had to move on from the war someday, and after it was over help to care for each other and heal the country's wounds, "with malice toward none, with charity for all."

LAD/Blog #18: Dred Scott Decision

[ Dred Scott ]

The Dred Scott v. Sanford Supreme Court Case of 1857 was among the most controversial Supreme Court cases, declaring an act of Congress unconstitutional for the second time and rewriting the definition of a slave. The Court ruled that those born into slavery became slaves and thus were unable to ever become citizens and were unable to sue in court; thus, even though Scott had fled to the free state of Illinois, he had to be returned to his owner. The Court also ruled that Congress had no right to prohibit slavery in federal territories, also stating that Congress could not deprive the citizens of the territory of "life, liberty, or property without due process of law," according to the Fifth Amendment, referring to slaves as "property." This case established slaves as property, favoring slavery and strengthening and upholding the institution.

LAD/Blog #17: Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman?"

 
In Akron, Ohio, at the Woman's Convention of 1851, Sojourner Truth declared the white man's definition of a woman. Truth said that all women, to white men, fall into the helpless, demure, elevated category that warranted being helped across ditches, lifted over puddles, given the best place, valued for their supposed fragility. Truth asserted that she has never enjoyed such a privilege, despite being a woman. Instead, she has ploughed fields and labored, planting and farming. Though she was a mother, she was not treated as a woman. Truth also spoke of education, wondering why women, already put at a disadvantage by society, must be limited in that area, as well. She also stated that men used the excuse that Christ was not female to limit women in the Bible-- however, she argued, Christ came to be by God and a woman; mad had nothing to do with Him. Women, Truth said, had to take a stand and stand up for their rights, together.

LAD/Blog #16: Douglass' 5th of July

Does the Declaration of Independence hold any meaning to a man in forced labor? Frederick Douglass asked this on the 5th of July, just after the Independence Day celebration that year. He stirred the listeners, asking hard-hitting questions about independence and hypocrisy within America. If the United States so encouraged and supported and struggled for independence, did that not mean that it supported the struggle of slaves seeking their independence? No. The nation did not recognize that particular struggle for independence. Douglass said that the Fourth of July was a celebration of white supremacy, a celebration of white rights and white ways, a celebration of the independence granted to whites and whites only. The nation turned its back on slaves, showing neither sympathy nor empathy but distance and frigidity between the races. Douglass believed that blacks were capable of living equally to and in equality with whites, and wondered why the similar races had to be so boldly divided when no division was truly apparent. The Fourth of July, to a slave, was a despicable celebration, representing injustice and his own submission to servitude. It was a sham, a day not of liberty, but of deception.

LAD/Blog #15: Gettysburg Address

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was barely longer than two hundred words, but may be one of the most well-known speeches in American history. Lincoln began by speaking of how America was a nation founded by men who sought freedom and equality, and those ideals were being tested at that time, by the Civil War. Lincoln made an attempt to dedicate the battleground to the men who lost their lives, in classical Greek funerary tradition, but found such a prospect to be a challenge; he believed that what would be said at Gettysburg would be forgotten, but the battle and its impact would live on. The men who died at Gettysburg, Lincoln asserted, fought for America; their deeds were immortal, and Lincoln could not let their deaths be in vain. The government, Lincoln said, had to live on, for it was a representation of the American people. The country had to prevail. Lincoln's handful of words about the Battle of Gettysburg, which followed speech by Edward Everett that spanned hours, made one of the largest impacts on American history and rhetoric, forever remembered as a mournful yet hopeful declaration of the perseverance of the Union.