"Uncle Tom's Cabin" - Harriet B. Stowe

Book Quote:
“’Ma’am,’ she said, suddenly, “have you ever lost a child?’” -Stowe


Internet Quote:
Her basic argument is that black’s suffer just as much as whites, and therefore it is just as wrong to mistreat them. Throughout the book Stowe approaches the idea of slavery from an unwavering Christian viewpoint.
-Ink Weaver Review

Summary:
Eliza is a runaway slave with her son who is to be sold. Desperate to keep her only surviving son she runs and is chased after the trader who is to sell her son. The trader is accompanied by Sam and Andy who are seen to be idiots as slaves are believed to be. Sam and Andy with the women folk attempt to slow down the trader from catching Eliza and her son. Eliza manages to Meet Mr. Bird, a senator and Mrs. Bird, a Christian woman. The couple dispute over the Christianity of turning in slaves until they are involved in a similar case of their own, the separation of a son. Feeling as they do about their lost son, they know Eliza’s pain in the possibility for her son so they help her.

Opinion:
Eliza and Mrs. Bird are used to show their similar emotions, their humanity. Eliza seems to have attempted to compare herself to Mrs. Bird, as if they have the same feelings as a human being does. Eliza is no less a human being than Mrs. Bird. They have experienced lost and are trying to cope with it. As Eliza has lost her other sons to death and her husband to a slave owner, what she has left is her son. Mrs. Bird had lost a son to death but still has her other sons and a husband. Eliza will have nothing if she loses her son, nothing will be left to live for. Sam and Andy play the trader (the white people) who sees them as idiots because of their station and uses it to their advantage in helping slow the trader from finding Eliza. Maybe if they were respected as human beings they act do better, but they’re not. But as the bible says to feed the hungry, cloth the naked, and comfort the desolate, it does not say only to certain people. Who’s law should be followed; the courts or gods?

Second Inaugural Address -Lincoln

Book Quote:
“declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation”- Lincoln

Internet Quote:
“According to Brooks, Journalist Noah Brooks, the audience received the speech in ‘profound silence,’ although some passages provoked cheers and applause. ‘Looking down into the faces of the people, illuminated by the bright rays of the sun, one could see moist eyes and even tearful faces.’”
– Speeches and Writings

Summary:
Abraham Lincoln’s speech is not what the people would have expected it to be. Instead of celebrating the fact that they are winning the war, he reminds them it’s a war not a competition. They have been in war for four years and because it has been long, they have forgotten why and how it started in the first place. There were those who sought out to dissolve the Union and made a war to see it happen. The government wanted to do no more than to restrict the expansion of slavery. Though all have read the bible we manage to ask the lord to dominate over each other, the north and south. Let them finish the work of war and prevent it from happening again. The war may be over soon but we cannot be sure. And when God says enough we still need to fix the wounds of the Union.

Opinion:
Most presidents would give a speech encourage the people to fight, win, and be better than others as long as it is an enemy. Lincoln shocked his audience as they were expecting such a speech. Realizing no matter winning or losing the war, they are actually losing. As it is not a war with someone else, it’s a war within themselves, their nation. Americans fighting Americans.