The remarks of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, and John F Kennedy’s Inaugural Address, are quite similar thematically. While the speeches differer in circumstance, they are both similar in their intent to bring together an intensely divided nation. During Lincoln’s address he states “It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us…that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that the government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth”. This shows that Lincoln’s purpose for delivering his address was in order to bring unity to people who were in need of an implementation of freedoms that some had fought and lost their lives for. Lincoln establishes that there will be a long road ahead, but he asks for togetherness throughout the rough times so that the people who have given their lives to the cause didn’t do so in vain. In Kennedy’s address he says, “We observe today not a victory of a party but a celebration of freedom-symbolizing an end as well as a beginning- signifying renewal as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago”. With these words, Kennedy makes reference to the same thing that was fought for so long ago, freedom. Freedom and change were the exact things that Lincoln, long before Kennedy, addressed in his speech. Kennedy also mentions that his victory is not “of a party”, showing that much like Lincoln, he faced the challenge of bringing a divided nation together as one. Thematically, both speeches are similar as they both served to usher in a new era of change and liberty, while bridging the gaps between a nation consisting of separate ideals. The two addresses differ in the circumstance they were presented in. Lincoln addressed a post civil war crowd who were in mourning over the deaths of many Union soldiers that gave their lives in order to protect everything the United States stood for. Kennedy on the other hand, was presenting to a crowd awaiting the address of their new president, some happy, others disappointed.

In both cases it’s evident that the two presidents believe that the freedoms of their people have been severely limited. Specifically, the freedoms of minorities were not equal to the freedoms of white Americans. Progress has certainly been made since the time of Lincoln and Kennedy, but not enough progress. Racial inequality still permeates every aspect of America like smoke lingering after a fire. In fact, looking at our current presidential administration it appears that since Kennedy we have gotten worse in how our president addresses these issues. However, the public has gotten better with addressing these issues, with the rise of social media people are able to publicly express themselves as they please and as seen recently, an increasing amount of people are using their platforms to speak up. Now that at a grassroots level people can make public statements denouncing racism you could say we’ve improved upon these issues, however, looking at the people we’re supposed to be able to turn to in unjust times it also seems like we’ve taken several steps backwards.

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