Summary Of Speech On The Reception Of Abolition Petitions

In John C. Calhoun’s “Speech on the reception of abolition petitions “he is expressing his views on why the movement of the abolitionist is not good for the country. Throughout the speech he is trying to prove the fact that African American’s are not equal to the white man because they are not smart enough to adopt our institutions. His racial charged words and being a great orator in his time worked in his favor for the senate to persuade the government why they should not change the southern traditions. According to Calhoun who had a deep hate for the reformist groups he did not believe that African Americans were included in the DOI because he still thought of them as savages that could not mix with the whites. He also thought the exclusion

of them was a good policy because by bringing in integration would ultimately bring danger to the southern states. He also thought this would be a good idea because it would be keeping the white man in power leading to more successful country. What Calhoun was basically predicting to happen if the races mix would be a war between the two groups. Calhoun’s frivolous ideals on integration we very wrong headed and caused many people to believe his nonsense thus leading to the civil war.

In Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Commonwealth Club Speech” he mentions many problems that he sees that going wrong with democracy during the time.

What he sees is a very inefficient way of running government due to the previous administration’s blunders. FDR plan for the government was to make sure all of the citizens would be taken care of almost in a socialist manner. To achieve this had wanted to progress many programs in the government that would be safe net for the American people if they fall in hard times. He called for many changes to the social welfare programs and challenged the rest of the government to help development them to make our country a better place. In our democracy which has a tendency to be manipulated he fought very hard to make sure that all citizens were entitled to the same benefits as others. What these programs were eventually came to be known as the second bills of rights which lead to equal protections for all citizens. What he wanted to ensure to the people was the in our country every man has the same opportunities to prosper as any

other.

Douglas point of this speech was to point out the hypocrisy of the fourth of July because under the constitution they are illegally taking away their rights given in the DOI.

What he was claiming was that African Americans slaves were born in the United States so they should be entitled to same American values given to the white Americans. He also goes ahead to bash the government for the attitudes towards his people and goes on to explain how he feels they are be exploited. His impact that he intended to have from this speech had been to bring freedom to African American’s by letting proper democratic ideals decide who is entitled to what rights. During the time of the speech he said black American’s should be ashamed to celebrate this holiday due to the misdeeds and unfair enforcement of these laws. His main take away from this was that the slavery going on in America was harmful and illegal because they violated the founding father principle rights. Throughout him speaking he goes on to undercut many powerful institutions in America that are simply letting slavery go on and not doing anything about it (Church). He is a very faithful man and believes looking back at his sentiments will ring home and show that he was inevitably correct in due time. In conclusion this ties to the ideas that African Americans should not have to celebrate this holiday until they feel like they are being equally treated under the same law are the white

American’s.

Tensions during the time of Lincoln’s election win and first inaugural speech were already at all time high with the confederacy coming together very quickly. With the confederacy basically already formed and ready to secede; Lincoln comes out as saying that the South feels like their being taken advantage of and because of this have become hostile to the northerners. During this speech his is still not committed to the idea of ending slavery due to the fact that he thinks that maybe the north and south could maybe defuse their problems. He is trying to keep the states together by trying to persuade the southerners that he did not wish to infringe upon their states’ rights outwardly and take away slavery. He goes on to explain that it vehemently expresses in the constitution that state/s cannot lawfully leave the union and in doing do so would be a revolutionary act that would need to be addressed by the national government. Lincoln is doing as much as he can to make sure no states secede, he is doing this because he knows once the south is committed it will be very hard to stop bloodshed against each other. Meaning he knew a war would erupt over the issue and was doing anything in his power to solve the problem through diplomacy. Succession was just bound to happen with neither side willing to compromise on the idea of slavery.