Tag Archives: Abraham Lincoln

Research Topics

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vietnam-protest-monument-ap691115062-af53ebb8d60c3b1de5272373ac6eddaa6617b84f-s6-c30Washington D.C is more than just a city, it is more than just the capital of one country, it is more than the center of the federal government. Washington D.C in one way or another, is the center of the entire world. Everybody in the world looks at what Washington D.C is doing, what policies are being created here, what architecture is being built here, how the people are living, and most importantly how this relatively young capital got shaped by its recent history.

one of the interesting topics to discuss about Washington DC is how this great capital, which is the center of the federal government, and several law forcing agencies, has a crime rate so high compared to other cities. Does the city not have enough law men to protect its residents? or is Washington DC not considered a residential area anymore? even though most residential areas have been pushed away from the center of D.C, specifically the national mall, the city is still flooded daily by civilians, from tourists, to local people, to people trying to get their work done with the agencies located in DC, so law enforcement has to be taken seriously, and we have been seeing an increase in law enforcement.

Crime rate brings us up to another interesting topic, does the history of DC that includes battles between federal government and local governments, and people supporting the laws of the federal government and people opposing them, play a role in increasing the crime rate here in DC? is it because the people that are living here are perhaps used to solving their disagreements in a violent way? that is an interesting topic to research a little bit more.

let us go back a little bit in history, around the time that slavery was being discussed widely and movements to end slavery was being established and empowered. How does a city like washington DC, which is supposed to be the unified center of the entire nation, react? where does it stand on such a hot topic? Would it want to stand with one faction of the people against the others? or would that stand dissolve this nation? Looking back at history, when Abraham Lincoln proposed the abolition of slavery, the nation was indeed facing a split that would have ended the united states, but instead, with the formation of the union army, which its main goal was to keep the nation unified, they fought the confederates army which called for separation, and when the union army emerged victorious after 4 bloody years that left more than half a million soldiers dead, the nation was preserved.

last but not least, i would like to discuss how the monumental movement has a lot to do with the beautification of Washington D.C. When you ask a lot of people, what do you think of when you hear Washington D.C, they almost spontaneously answer by: ” the national monuments.” The national monuments give the city of Washington D.C a different aspect that none of the major american cities have, in which those monuments mark specific important events in the history of our nation. the Washington monument for example, remind us of our first elected president. Dr. Martin Luther king’s statue, exemplifies the city’s civil movements. The Lincoln memorial is a beautiful memory of our great standards that was set long ago. and much much more.

Washington D.C is a young city compared to other nations who have existed long time ago, but D.C has a history so deep that makes it a point of interest to a lot of people.marchonwashington_getty

Navigating through primary sources

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Primary sources can be hard to navigate. specially if they are older ones that require close reading and inspection. one of the primary sources that i thought was interesting is the one from The National tribune magazine that was established in 1877 and ran to 1917. the magazine was co-owned and edited by John McElroy who was an american soldier with the union army before starting his printing trade. He had a very clear view of the current issues at the time, and specially about slavery, since in his magazine he clearly condemns slavery and calls it ” a monstrous evil”. He also mentions in his post that a lot thought slavery would last forever, but until it proved to be wrong in many aspects, emancipation was the right choice. the post was published in washington D.C in 1909, which is almost 30 years after the emancipation proclamation was issued by president Abraham Lincoln.

Another primary source that i found interesting was a post from Flickr: The Commons. It is a picture of the installation of the statue of Abraham Lincoln, in our nation’s capital, in the year 1920. The picture was created and shared by the Office of Public Buildings and Public Parks of the National Capital.lincoln The picture shows how Abraham Lincoln is one of the most influential presidents in the history of the United States of America, and that is why his statue is right in the middle of the heart of America’s capital. Although a lot of people didn’t agree with what the President was calling for and standing up for, in the end president Lincoln’s values prevailed because they were the right thing to do.

I did find it more difficult to analyze pictures and photographs than posts and magazines as primary sources, because the producers of the photographs don’t really give any information other than where was the picture taken and by whom it was taken. On the other hand, magazine posts show you a lot more about the personality of the author, his values and what he thinks of whatever he is writing about. Thus, analyzing posts in magazines are way easier to source, contextualize, and close read it.