Struggles of the Nineteenth Century in America - Essay Example

At the time of the war, American ambushed Mexico and took over the capital. Thoreau’s essay “Civil Disobedience” adapts the urge to focus on one’s conscience over the commands of the law. It critiques vehemently American social institutions and laws, most of all slavery and the Mexican-American war. Ideally, Thoreau starts his brilliant essay by arguing that the government should state its duty to the people by substantiating its usefulness which it acquires from the people.
This is because the people it represents are the majority and the strongest group, but not, ideally, because they hold the most licit view. Thoreau agrees that people’s first responsibility is to do what they trust is the correct thing, and thus abide by the policies dictated by the majority. For Thoreau, when the government tends to be unjust, people should boycott the law, and shun its government in general. In protesting against the invasion of Mexico, Thoreau’s evaded paying taxes and ended in sleeping in jail.
Women in the nineteenth century were also concerned with gaining equality as citizens. “Declaration of Sentiments” provided for the acceptance of the convention. It was read at the convection by Elizabeth Stanton. “Declaration of Sentiments” offers certain resolutions. First, the laws that discriminated against women were contrary to the great principle of nature. Second, the “Declaration of Sentiments” states categorically that a woman is a man’s equal, and she should be recognized as such. “Declaration of Sentiments” struggles against the perception of women as inferior to men.
“Ar’n’t I a Woman?” is the name of a speech delivered by Sojourner Truth. Sojourner Truth was well known anti-slavery speaker. In her speech, Sojourner affirms that the American culture denied the black women privileges which it gave the white women. Sojourner also believed that men and women were equal by all rights and standards; men were not better than women.
“The Working Girls of New York” is an essay written by Fanny Fern. She illustrates women's suffrage. Fern explores the challenges that faced women whether or not they were rich, poor, and/or married. Women who had better-paying jobs were supposed to stay home while the husband was away on business. Fern stresses that men hardly catered for their families; this burden was left to the woman.
Furthermore, the author also emphasizes the working and living conditions of working girls. Those working girls had to share stuffy rooms; they wore low-quality clothes and never ate properly cooked food. In her essay, Fern criticizes the impact the Industrial Revolution had on women.
"Address at the Dedication on the Gettysburg” is a speech that was delivered during the American war by President Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln’s speech evokes the precept of human equality advocated by the Declaration of Independence. He stresses that the Civil War as a struggle, no doubt, would bring rational equality to all American citizens.
“Jealous Mistress” was written by Harriet Jacobs. It is autobiographical and chronicles Jacobs’s hardships which she experienced as a slave. In her narrative, she uses the pseudonym Linda Brent. Linda Brent. Dr. Flint symbolizes the oppressive male role in the nineteenth century. Dr. Flint objectifies Linda and at times fights her. Linda Brent rebels against him and refuses to have intercourse with him. This represents the struggles she and other women had to endure. The Wound- Dresser is a poem written by Walt Whiteman. The poem adeptly illustrates the suffering in the Civil War hospitals and the poet’s distress.
True, struggle in the American experience did not end with the American Revolution but continued into the mid-nineteenth century. The oppressed American citizens fought a “good fight”, which wrenched them away from the oppressive nature they had fallen prey to.