 The Fugitive Slave Act passed by Congress in September 1850 to increase federal and free-state responsibility for the recovery of fugitive slaves.  The law allowed federal commissioners to issue warrants for the arrest of fugitive slaves and to enlist the aid of posses and even civilian bystanders in their apprehension.  The picture shows a group of four, possibly free, black men getting chased by a armed group of white men in a cornfield.  One of the white man fires and two other white men are reloading their muskets. Two of the black men have been shot, one has fallen to the ground and the other staggering and gripping the back of his bleeding head, while the two other blacks react with horror.  Below the picture are two texts, one from Deuteronomy: "Thou shalt not deliver unto the master his servant which has escaped from his master unto thee. He shall dwell with thee. Even among you in that place which he shall choose in one of thy gates where it liketh him best. Thou shalt not oppress him.“  The second text is from the Declaration of Independence: "We hold that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

 The importance of the Fugitive Slave Laws was because slaves kept running away from their masters without first getting consent.  The Laws were made so that the masters could bring back their slaves no matter where they were as long as they were found alive.

 The Fugitive Slave Laws continue to affect us today because without those laws taking place, blacks would have been able to join forces and take over the whites and then history could have been reversed by whites being slaves.  This would have happened because if the whites thought that a roaming black person was free then they would leave them alone even if they weren’t really free.

 The Emancipation Proclamation is one of two large commemorative prints marking the ordinance issued by Missouri governor Thomas C. Fletcher.  It announced the immediate release of slaves that were controlled by another person in that state.  The Missouri ordinance was issued on January 11, 1865, three weeks before the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was proposed by Congress.  In the center, above the text of the proclamation, and in between a lion and a dog, is a portrait of Gov. Fletcher with the arms of the state below him.  Clockwise from that are portraits of other Missouri officials: state auditor Alonzo Thompson, treasurer William Bishop, lieutenant governor George Smith, attorney-general Robert F. Wingate, register J. E. Smith, and secretary of state Francis Rodmann.  Carved female figures representing Commerce (upper left), Industry (upper right), Navigation (lower right), and Agriculture (lower left) appear in costumes with their correct attributes. Commerce holds a caduceus, Industry a spindle and a large cogwheel, Navigation a rudder and miniature riverboat, and Agriculture produce and a spade.

 The Emancipation Proclamation only referred to the North States, which didn’t have many slaves.  It was used to change the main goals of the North from defeating the South to Freeing Slaves.  It was used as the beginning to mark the equality of all people.

 The Emancipation Proclamation affects us today by keeping the Union as it stands and not having a country that is divided.  It was also the driving force between many major legal equality movements, mainly the 13 th, 14 th, and 15 th Amendments, and the 1960’s Civil Rights Act (and movement as a whole).  The Emancipation Proclamation is seen as adding important value to the American mind: that all people are equal, and that Americans should strive to treating each other with respect and dignity, no matter what race.

 This picture shows Uncle Sam laying a Memorial Day wreath on a large tomb that has an inscription from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.  It reads, "That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth."  Behind him, in the cemetery, lie tombstones labeled "France," "Greece," "Belgium," "Poland," "Holland," "Denmark," "Yugoslavia," "Norway," and "Checho-Slovakia."  These tombstones represent the countries that were overrun by Germany.  In May 1941, the U.S. had not joined World War II, but Berryman suggests that the American people are committed to taking all steps short of war to support the Allies in opposing Hitler.

 Abraham Lincoln proposed peace and was the end of the Civil War.  The Importance of the Gettysburg Address was to state the fact that the nation was now committing to democracy.  Even though the idea of equal justice, the firm resolution, and the new-world definition of democracy took a while for people to get the idea of, more thought slowly made people reconsider and praise the truth in Lincoln’s words.  Lincoln had made the people aware of their rights and declared the government answerable to the people.  Lincoln changed the idea of democracy and his words inspired people to act.

 The Gettysburg Address continues to affect us today because it keeps the idea of freedom and democracy in the minds of Americans.  The speech serves as a constant reminder that all Americans have a part to play in keeping our nation democratic and that we have been given a voice that we need to use to better our country.  The idea is that the government should always act in the favors of it’s people, but if it does not then it’s time to change.

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