Abraham Lincoln And Equal Rights

            
             With America struggling in a state of Civil War, the nation's very core was being shaken. Abraham Lincoln, who was president during this period, realized this, and delivered one of his most historically renowned speeches, "The Gettysburg Address". This speech addresses many concerns for the nation as a whole. Through "The Gettysburg Address", Lincoln clearly states his views on what the country once was, how it was during the time he was in, and what his hopes and dreams for the future were. .
             When the United States was founded, it was founded on a very famous principle, that "all men are created equal." Lincoln realized this and stated that this nation was "dedicated to the proposition that all men were created equal." Our nation founded itself on this simple thought because its people were tired of the tyranny and oppression caused by rule under Great Britain. The early Americans wanted many things, from their own laws to religious freedoms, but most of all they wanted to be considered equals in the eyes of man. These are only a few of the reasons the Revolutionary War was fought with Great Britain. After the war was over the American people knew what it felt like to finally be free. .
             While they still remained free, Americans began to treat other races and cultures as the British had treated them. The irony found here in American history is that the country gained their freedom and equality from Britain, and was now fighting the same war against them. They let the same issues divide the country into two separate nations with a bitter hatred for one another. Perhaps the greatest irony is the fact that the southern states now wanted to be free, and separate from the northern states. Now the nation was found in a brutal state of war, which would eventually determine the course of American history (Neely,56). .
             Abraham Lincoln, striving only for the people's equal rights, described best what impact the war would have on the nation when he said, "Now we are engaged in a great Civil War, testing whether our nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.