An Agreement for Change

When Lincoln delivered his Second Inaugural Address, he sought out to "articulate the meaning of the war and to lay the groundwork for peace, reconstruction, and reunification" after the Civil War was drawing to a close. Likewise, when Henry Garnet was invited by President Lincoln to deliver a sermon at the House of Representatives, he could possibly have been in agreement and conversation with Lincoln. Garnet was "urging legislators to go even further, erasing all distinctions based on race from the laws and Constitution of the United States." Besides the fact that the two were conversational in reality, their views on "the next step" for the United States after the close of the Civil War were identical. Garnet is pushing legislators to understand that demands by abolitionists and reformers will dwindle once "the unjust and heavy burdens shall be removed from every man in the land." The Emancipation Proclamation may have been issued, but slaves in areas not controlled by the federal government continued to be burdened by slavery. Therefore, Garnet is speaking for the eternal justice of every African American in the United States "to make his own way in the social walks of life." Both Lincoln's Inaugural Address and Garnet's Discourse to the House of Representatives took place in 1865, when Lincoln wanted the United States to achieve "malice toward none...to do all which may achieve peace and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves and with all nations." The two leaders were in agreement at this thought. The American Dream for both is for peace and unification as one country, where people of any color can pave their own paths and determine their own destiny. The war was drawing to a close, and it was time to reconstruct the way of life in the North and South. Although Lincoln's powerful position in politics may have added to his persuasive tone, both verbal announcements of sentiments were powerful claims received by many - a claim that pressures the United States to reunify and reconstruct to regain peace.