though freedom of speech and of the ballot have for the present fallen before the shot-guns of
the South, and, the party of slavery is now in the ascendant, we need bate no jot of heart or hope.
The American people will, in any great emergency, be true to themselves. The heart of the nation is still sound and strong, and as in the past, so in the future, patriotic millions, with able captains to lead them, will stand as a wall of fire around the Republic, and in the end see Liberty, Equality, and Justice triumphant. – Frederick Douglass, “Speech delivered in Madison Square, New York,
Decoration Day.” 1877.
I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Too-hul-hul-sote is dead. The
old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead.
It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food; no one knows where they are—
perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many of them I
can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired; my heart is sick
and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever. – Chief Joseph, surrender
speech, as recorded by Lieutenant Wood, Twenty-first Infantry, acting aide-de-camp and
acting adjutant-general to General Oliver O. Howard, in 1877.
For this assignment you are required to write on TWO topics. the two topics are the speeches provided above.
For each topic try to make about four to five points, and do not write more than 800 words or fewer than 500.
follow these questions: a. it will identify the document and context (including its language, whether the text
provided is a translation, and the place where this document was done), its
purpose and the main characters involved;
b. it will comment on the particular point or points raised in the extract (ask yourself,
why was this extract set?);
c. it will explain any distinctive words or phrases;
d. it will then, towards the end, comment more discursively on some of the broader
issues involved. Is this a true or accurate narrative of events? Are the hopes of
the protagonist ultimately realized? Where does this extract fit into the wider
context of what we know from our sources?
Do not use any AI writing tools or Cyrillic letters in writing.