Question

Lines 1–16: In which lines does King state his purpose? What other seminal U.S. documents does King cite in his speech?

Answer 1

In his 1963-speech “I Have a Dream”, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. states the purpose of the speech between lines 1-3:

• “I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.”

In these lines, MLK is giving the audience the reason for their presence in that March of August 28th: the freedom of African-Americans.  

In order to support his speech, MLK cites some U.S seminal documents. Some of them are the Emancipation Proclamation in line 5:

• “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.”

Also, in subsequent lines (line 20-22), he cites the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.  

• “In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.”