 "Signing of the Declaration of
Independence" Painting by John
Trumbull
Before we consider what President Lincoln thought
about the first man that was President, George Washington, we will
consider "all" the original Founding Fathers of our
country.
Answer these Challenge
Questions to learn just who the Founding Fathers
were:
1. Name the main original Founding
Fathers of the United States: (Click
Here) for a short list. Click
Here for a longer complete list
2. Why are these men called our
"Founding Fathers?" What did they do of great importance in
founding our country? (Click
Here and read the introduction)
3. What great American documents were
written by the Founding Fathers? (Click
Here)
Abraham Lincoln
and Leadership of our Nation
4. His childhood and
learning & Leadership centering on
"rights of the individual" (Click
Here)
5. (Click
Here scroll to the bottom of the site for reference links) and
read the Declaration of Independence
and the Gettysburg Address.
Answer these Challenge Questions about these
documents. One was written and signed by the Founding Fathers
in 1776. The other was given as a speech and written by
President Lincoln.
6. The second paragraph of the
Declaration talks about "people or men." This
paragraph, in particular describes how our people of the future
United States of America were to be treated. Tell in your own
words what this second paragraph means. How has our country
done in it's history, in making these ideas work?
7. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address has ten
sentences. For the "Founding Father's" section of our
activity, re=read first of all, the first sentence. How old
was our country when Lincoln gave this speech? He mentions our
fathers. Who were these men? What big idea did these men
have that related to the great Civil War ongoing during the time of
the Gettysburg Military Cemetery dedication? What was the war
doing to the nation?
8. Now re-read the last (long)
paragraph. Why did Lincoln ask that the nation need a new
birth of freedom? What was the big problem with our
country, besides the horrible on-going war? With this last
long sentence what has he now switched the purpose of the war (from
preserving the unity of the nation) to what?
Personal Opinion
Opportunity:
9. Lincoln made several people angry
with the way he handled the Civil War: taking away personal
rights for security reasons, sometimes having people jailed that
were causing sessionist ideas in the Union, and generally conducting
the war. How does he kind of relate to our present
President?
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