Lincoln's First Inaugural Address

The reason why I chose Lincoln's First Inaugural Address is because Lincoln is the one of the
greatest president in the United States. He led America go through the most difficulty period, and
he also protected the union, enhanced the power of the federal government, and strengthened the
economy. When I was studying history in my high school, the only thing the teacher mentioned
was the abolish of slavery. In fact, the effort he put was way more than that, and it all showed in
his speech. Therefore, it is a good opportunity for to know more about Lincoln.

1. In the begging of the passage, I can feel through the words that the confliction between
southern state and northern state is the biggest issue and concern for Lincoln, and he tried
to explain and comfort to those people who got involved in the fight.
2. In this passage, he mentions that he did not have the lawful right and even inclination to
solve the issue of slavery. I was really surprised by this information since I thought that
he is the one who always concerns about the issue of slavery.
3. Lincoln states that every state should be a union and follow the same rule. If the state
want to detach from this union, it should be decided by all citizen in America instead of
their own people. I think he wants to emphasize that the action is illegal according to the
current law.
4. Lincoln mentions that there is no any law says that congress can prohibit or protect the
slavery. To come out with an idea, people might be divided by minority and majority. I
think that the only way to solve the problem is to respect minority, and the minority
should support the majority to make the government better.
5. Through his speech, I can tell that Lincoln tried his best to avoid violence and invasion,
which shows people that he is more like moderate side instead of radical.
6. Lincoln mentions that we cannot separate and remove out respective sections from each
other physically. He gave people an example which says that a divorced couple can leave
each other forever and will not see each other again, but country cannot. This example
gave people a good image that separating from the union was not a good idea.
7. Lincoln says that people is the boss of this country, and the power he has is because of
the people. I think that he tried to convince his people that they were treated equally, and
they were the important element in the development of government.
8. Lincoln kept mentioning the concept of union, and he promised that he would protect the
union to be unbroken with his power and let the law of union be suitable in every state.
9. In the last part of the passage, Lincoln mentions about the Christianity and the God. I
think that he wanted to use the power of religion to calm people down since most of
people are Christian.
10. In the end, Lincoln says, We are not enemy, but friend to those people who do not want
to be part of union. The words he kept using are always inspired, and I think he tried so
hard to relieve the tension.

From the article, Lincoln was so devoted to the union, and it makes me think that how important
and hard to keep a country peacefully unified. The concept of union which Lincoln mentions in
the speech is the most memorable information for me. I used to think Lincoln put most of his
effort on abolishing slavery. However, to do so, people should get united and have a resonance to
come up with some law. Lincoln tried so hard to make people cooperate with each other and
finally he succeeded.

Uncle Toms Cabin

The reason I chose Uncle Toms Cabin is because this article contains lots of conversation which
is different from others article I have read. Through the conversation between each character, I
can have the same feeling as them. Additionally, the personality can be easily present those
conversations. History is hard to understand, but this article makes me easier to comprehend the
whole situation of being slaves and the unfair way they treated on those slaves.

1. In the begging of the article, it shows that how religious Tom was, and he overcame the
difficulty and hardship as being a slave by keeping his faith on God. Therefore, the
attitude he put on his work and master was different from others slaves.
2. According to the article, it is hard to tell that how was the life before meeting his new
master, Legree, but as a slave, he must be treated brutally, and he suffered a lot.
Additionally, adapting new environment for the salve as being traded by the master is an
important process for them, and it always not easy.
3. Legree, Toms master who noticed that Tom was an efficient, fast, reliable, and hard
worker. Additionally, he also found out that he had compassion and love on what he was
doing, but he secretly disliked him because it could not be accepted in such an
environment of feeling fear.
4. When the woman came into the field, she suddenly got Toms attention. However, others
slaves tried to taunt her. I thought that the class of woman is not the same as todays
society. People looked down on woman even in the environment where being around
with all the slaves.
5. In the article, the author use so many paragraphs to describe the woman who came into
the field, and his words accurately shows that how beautiful she is. Besides, Tom also
made some positive comment on the woman. He said that she belonged to that class.
6. After the woman showed up in their place, Tom kept helping her secretly. He gave her
several handful of cottons, but she refused to take it because Tom would get in trouble.
This message shows me that Tom was different from the other slaves by showing his
kind to that woman.
7. I am confused that why slaves could not help each other at that time. In the article, they
put more works on those slaves who tried to help others for the punishment. I thought
that it did not really matter that slaves helped out each other before.
8. Under such a suppression society, people especially for the slaves did not really get a
chance to speak up for their right. The slaves were told to do everything even though it
was wrong.
9. Tom did not afraid of the oppression by the master because of the personality Tom has.
In the end of the article, Tom spoke out for the unfair condition, and he ended up with
being punished.
 10. I feel sad about Tom because his personality would not be accepted by their society at
that time. I think that the more kindness and fearlessness he shows to the people the more
punishment he will get back which is really ridiculous.

After reading this article, the most memorized thing is the contradiction between his personality
and the atmosphere of the whole society at that time. In the begging of the article, he mentions
about the bible message. It shows me that the religion influence his personality a lot. God gives
him hope to live in such a terrible situation, and he not only have faith on what he is doing but
also caring and loving people. However, he was punished and treated brutally in the end of this
chapter. His braveness is the reason causing him to the punishment which make me despair. In
short, I really appreciate his positive mind even in a dark and terrible society.