Your task is to craft an argument, in relation with a set of sources, that enters into a public conversation, and that does so in a way that will make that conversation relevant to your audience.

Ontheoccasioncorrespondingtothisfouryearsago,all thoughtswereanxiouslydirectedto animpendingcivilwar.Alldreadedit—all soughtto avertit.Whiletheinaugural addresswasbeingdeliveredfromthisplace,devotedaltogetherto savingtheUnionwithoutwar,insurgentagentswereinthecityseekingto destroyitwithoutwar—seekingto dissolvetheUnion,anddivideeffectsbynegotiation.Bothpartiesdeprecatedwar,butoneofthemwouldmakewarratherthanletthenationsurvive;andtheotherwouldacceptwarratherthanletitperish,andthewarcame.

andthatgovernmentofthepeople,bythepeople,forthepeople,shall notperishfromtheearth

thatfromthesehonoreddeadwetakeincreaseddevotiontothatcauseforwhichtheygavethelastfullmeasureofdevotion;thatweherehighlyresolvethatthesedeadshallnothavediedinvain;

This book is a study of twentieth-century African-American literature that focuses on thecomplex concept of authenticity. Eversley, a professor of English at Baruch College, argues that the quality of “authenticity”, imposed upon the African-American community from both within and without, should be understood as “a double-edged opportunity”(x): it allows black American writers to receive recognition, but at the same time, forces these writers to take on the task of representing “authentic” blackness. Addressing scholars of American and African-American literature, Eversley draws upon a widevariety of work, from African-American literary studies (Morrison, Gates) to historical accounts of authenticity in America (Orvell) to more philosophical explorations of authenticity (Adorno, Trilling.) Eversley presents her work in opposition to the idea of “racial authenticity as a measure of black literary and cultural achievement” (xii)—an idea she sees as dominating twentieth-century discourse on the topic. This oppositional stance will work nicely with my own attempt at critiquing “Latina authenticity.”

global

The record of many decades stands as proof that our people and their governmenthave, in the main, understood these truths and have responded to them well, in the face of stress and threat. But threats, new in kind or degree, constantly arise. I mention two only.

Crises

The total influence --economic, political, even spiritual --is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government

Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative. Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose

an we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance

science instead of its terrors.

We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution

et every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

Let both sides

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,For you they call, the swaying mass,their eager faces turning;Here Captain! dear father!This arm beneath your head!It is some dream that on the deck,You’ve fallen cold and dead.

Fallen cold and dead

The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won

our fearful trip is done

he contest formonarchy and succession, between the houses of York and Lancaster, laid England in a scene of bloodfor many years

Thirty kings and two minors have reigned in that distracted kingdom sincethe conquest, in which time there has been (including the revolution) no less than eight civil wars and nineteen Rebellions.

avor of hereditary succession is,that itpreserves a nation from civil wars; and were this true, it would be weighty; whereasit is the most bare-faced falsity ever imposed upon mankind