William Sumner

There is a beautiful notion afloat in our literature and in the minds of our people that men are born to certain “natural rights” If that were true, there would be something on earth which was got for nothing, and this world would not be the place it is at all.  The fact is, that there is no right whatever inherited by man which has not an equivalent and corresponding duty by the side of it, as the price of it.  The rights, advantages, capital, knowledge, and all other goods which we inherit from pass generations have been won by the struggles and sufferings of pass generations; and the fact that the race lives, though men die, and that the race can by heredity accumulate within some cycle its victories over Nature, is one of the facts which make civilization possible. The struggles of the race as a whole produce the possessions of the race as a whole.  Something for nothing is not to be found on earth.

Whether these natural inheritance was gained by some assistance from pass generations to me speaks that you cannot live an individual life, when what you do counts on pass and future generations for one and what you gain cannot be gained alone, especially in an industrial market, where you need manpower to produce goods or materials. 

Another quote from Mr. Sumner states, “That a drunkard in the gutter is just where he ought to be, according to the fitness and tendency of things.  Nature has set upon him the process of decline and dissolution by which she removes things which have survived their usefulness.”  All I can say to this is this is the idea of man toward another man whom could be your own brother.  I’m glad that the world is not as that black and white as Mr. Sumner thinks.

William Sumner beliefs in laissez-faire and essay “What Social Classes Owe to Each Other” is very interesting, filled with truths that I believe and some irrational ideology, but I’m sure is practice in some form our society today.

Abraham Lincoln

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. work on Abraham Lincoln has brought new insight onto this historical man.  The same journey Mr. Gates experience is the same reaction I’m conceiving right now. Many things are not taught to us in our America schools, the mythologized of Lincoln has led to a kind of tunnel vision for many.  Lincoln was a hero in many black people eyes and savior of humanity in others.

Still there is surprising information that I didn’t know, like the fact that he had two mental collapse or episode of depression.  The cause of one being a woman shows Lincoln passionate side.  Like with a lot of human being there is complexity. The fact that he was compassionate, smart and honest, didn’t not mean that at the same time he was commanding, shred, no nonsense type of person.

After he rose to captain as an enlisted man, he then became a self taught lawyer, gaining a reputation as a person who uses common sense in judgment and for his honesty. Then as his political career grew into an election to the house of representative than he join the republican Party running for senate against Stephen A. Douglas sparking several famous debates were he clearly states his opinion for the black race. Obviously a smart man, running for president, he realize that he needed to allied himself to his enemies who had more political experience than he did.  Then had to prove to those same people that he was capable had to frustrate him, along with the difficulties and challenges in the beginning.  Under President Lincoln, the American civil war erupted, this war has held the most casualties in our history, but was eventually won by the union. 

During the debates, he stated that he didn’t see blacks ever being equal and that the white race was a superior race.  Even though some may have seen this as a political ploy to keep or gain southern voters, the statement is still written and although may have fit that time, reading it now in this time doesn’t sit well with a many, but because he sign the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, freeing 400,000 slaves, many have overlooked his flaws.    

There or millions of opinions of President Lincoln, just like all president some are good, some are bad. Lincoln, being smart enough to see that Emancipation Proclamation was not enough to end slavery, that a constitution amendment (13^th) had to be written to abolish slavery altogether and him being a key figure in presenting this to the house is ok in my eyes.