My Changemaker Project Reflection (Group 1)
Abraham Lincoln: My Changemaker Reflection
Amanda Perera
Sherri Sinkoff
SPC 2608-2263-11368
My group's changemaker project was centered primarily around prominent figures of the 1800s. The
1800s were a crucial point in history for major beneficial changes regarding civil and natural rights that
help pave way for the civil rights movements in the 1900s, industrial inventions that paved a way for
future inventions, and the ensuring of natural rights regardless of gender or race.
For my part in my group's changemaker project, I focused on one of the most prominent leading
benefactors for putting an end to slavery in the United States for good: President Abraham Lincoln.
He was the first ever president from the Republican Party, and he was a moderate man who pushed for
all African Americans and other minorities to achieve equal rights throughout the entirety of the
American Civil War. A fun fact I'd found out about Lincoln was how he initially was just an ordinary
farm man from the countryside struggling to support his family financially and held no ill will in
verbally lashing out at black people who were in the same living position as him. It wasn't until around
his first big break into politics that he took a great deep understanding in the problems that slavery had
caused for the United States through witnessing and enduring the compromises of adding states that
would be forced to either enter as free states or slave states. Lincoln didn't believe that new states
should be added solely for the sake of slavery, and began to open his own eyes to the injustice of
slavery in the country.
Below is an attached biographical summary about the life of President Lincoln, detailing from his
early life and childhood growing up in a log cabin in rural Kentucky to his untimely assassination at the
hands of John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre in 1865.
his impact on the United States and his contributions to the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the
Constitution, which later paved way to enforcing major civil and natural rights acts to all minorities in
the later century.
For my research on Lincoln, I used MDC's EBSCO research site to research essays and documents
pertaining to Lincoln and his political views on slavery and how it essentially evolved over periods of
time from the beginning until the end of the Civil War. Lincoln made numerous political and war
enemies both on the home front and the battlefield of the Civil War, but he never let any of them stop
him from leading troops of the Union to put an end and dissolve the Confederate States of America and
reunite the South with the Northern United States.
The 1700s and Foundation of the United States of America: The Founding Fathers of our country
worked drastically to create and formulate an efficient government independent from the United
Kingdom of Great Britain. Nevermore would there be a need for unfair taxation without representation,
and the creation of the Constitution with its amended Bill of Rights was necessary in the foundation of
an ever thriving nation to this day. Even with the ups and downs that came with revolution against the
UK, these politicians worked hard to ensure the creation of the fundamental laws that our country was
founded on the initial principles of. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is what was needed to
ensure our country remain strong for all the years to have come since.
The 1900s: The 1900s, in my opinion, provided some of the greatest major changes in history. The
Civil Rights movement was a pinpoint in history where people took great stand to fighting against
racial discrimination in the United States. From peaceful protests and rallies to negotiations with
political leaders to the signing of the Civil Rights Act, this period of time became revolutionary in
fighting towards the end of all racial discriminatory laws in the country. The Great Depression left a
negative economical impact on the United states in the 1930s, but with the aid of Franklin D.
Roosevelt's New Deal, the country was able to economical get back up on its feet over the next few
years, with their inclusion in World War 2 further helping to not only boost the US economy back up,
but to also bring forth aid into the war effort to end the cruel reign and terror brought forth by the Axis
Powers, with Japan being the US's main focus of defeating at the time due to their bombing of Pearl
Harbor in Hawaii.
The 2000s to Present Day: There are lots of people who've made great industrial and civil changes in
the 21st century of the present time period. Group 4 provided some major figures in the world of social
media like Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook and Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon. They also
managed to provide people who advocated for civil changes in countries where natural rights are
largely prohibited, especially for women and girls. Malala was a revolutionary figure in speaking out
against the wrath of the Taliban in Pakistan and fighting to ensure that all women and girls be allowed
to receive an education and more civilized rights. I once remember her speaking of how one book and
one pen can majorly change a person's life for the greater good, and I agree. Education is a fundamental
need to help people learn and live life in the natural world.
Overall, it was a rather interesting project to do. Hardly have I ever done a project that involved
finding people who've made major beneficial changes throughout history of the United States. Lincoln
was always the top person in mind whenever it came to thinking about major political changemakers of
the 1800s United States. They say that the best way to fighting and overcoming prejudice and hatred is
by simply putting yourself into someone else's shoes, and take a look upon the world and life through
their point of view. Change is always inevitable, and even today, we'll always find a world that
continues doing its very best to change for the greater good.
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