During the early nineteenth century, the Jeffersonian Party's base of strength was in the south
The party was formed by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison around 1792. It was opposed to the centralizing policies of the new Federalist Party as it believed that a strong central government posed a threat to liberty
One of the reasons why most Irish Americans favor neutrality was because they were wary of other immigrant populations entering the country as refugees, which would likely happen if America got involved in the war.
Answer:
(i) First, it is important to remember the context. America was in the midst of a bloody civil war. Union troops had only recently defeated Confederate troops at the Battle of Gettysburg. It was a the turning point in the war. The stated purpose of Lincoln’s speech was to dedicate a plot of land that would become Soldier’s National Cemetery. However, Lincoln realized that he also had to inspire the people to continue the fight.
Below is the text of the Gettysburg Address, interspersed with my thoughts on what made it so memorable.
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.
“Four score and seven” is much more poetic, much more elegant, much more noble than “Eighty-seven”. The United States had won its freedom from Britain 87 years earlier, embarking on the “Great Experiment”.
(ii) The Emancipation Proclamation and Thirteenth Amendment brought about by the Civil War were important milestones in the long process of ending legal slavery in the United States. This essay describes the development of those documents through various drafts by Lincoln and others and shows both the evolution of Abraham Lincoln’s thinking and his efforts to operate within the constitutional boundaries of the presidency.
