Question

Using Lincoln’s “A House Divided” speech, Walt Whitman’s “O Captain! My Captain!” poem, and Jane Addams’s “Influence of Lincoln” memoir chapter, you are going to write an expository essay of at least 750 words to answer the question: “What American ideal(s) does Abraham Lincoln embody?” To get started, think about our discussion of Lincoln’s speech and reread “O Captain! My Captain!” and “Influence of Lincoln.” Identify the American ideals and Lincoln’s embodiment of them.

Answer 1

"A House divided agaisnt itself cannot stand"

America should be united, as one, to be able to grow and prosper, to be able to be the dreamland we all want. Unity is the first necessary value from the speech.

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,

The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won.

He did it, he managed to unite the States, he managed to put them all together towards an ideal, but the hate of a few, and the fear of change of others assured a fateful ending for Lincoln.

"he wished to bear testimony that he personally had known but this one man who had never been offered a bribe because bad men were instinctively afraid of him "

Integrity, Lincoln, had integrity, as told by it´s contemporaries.

Unity, integrity and modesty are the american values that Liconln reflected.