Nonfiction American Literature: 1860s–1890s
Directions: As you complete this unit of the course, use this graphic organizer to take notes on the time
period, the American identity, and the readings in this unit.
Time Period: What key historical events happened in this time period?
Abraham Lincoln, nationwide conflict, estate act, liberation proclamtion, batlle of Gettysburg, freedmens agency, liberated
slaves, social equality act, ku klux faction, fourteenth amendment & fifteenth amendment, the national yellowstone public park,
frenzy of 1873, skirmish of little bighorn, extraordinary railroad strike, reconstuction closes, Nez pearce war, light, knights of
work, 100 years of disrespect, mckinely duty, injured knee slaughter, plessy v ferguson, henry portage's most memorable vehicle,
deal of paris, hawaii added.
American Identity: How did the American identity evolve in the nineteenth century?
Legislative issues and religion were the two essential elements in their own personality. Political personality was much of the
time directed first by where they resided; your loyalty was in many cases most importantly to your state, making sense of a
portion of the sectional issues that tormented early American history.
©2018 EdisonLearning - All Rights Reserved
Excerpts from My Bondage
and My Freedom by
Frederick Douglass
"The Gettysburg Address"
by Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln's
Second Inaugural
Address
"The Great Problem to be
Solved" by Frances Ellen
Watkins Harper
What is the purpose of
this text? What issues
or historical events
from this time period
does this text reflect?
The reason for this
text is to feature
Fredrick Douglss'
battle for opportunity
and autonomy against
northern prejudice.
The reason for this
text is to discuss
common forgiceness,
north and south and
attest that the genuine
strength of a country
lies in its ability for a
noble cause
The motivation
behind this text is to
urge African
Americans to recreate
themselves and not
depend on the public
authority. She
composed this
following the
nationwide conflict.
What key supporting
evidence is included to
make the argument?
“I became convinced
"Now we are engaged
"While the inaugural
that there was no
in a great civil war,
address was being
necessity for
testing whether that
delivered from this
dissolving the "union
nation, or any nation
place, devoted
between the northern
so conceived, and so
altogether to saving
and the southern
dedicated, can long
the Union without
states"; that to seek
endure. We are met
war, insurgent agents
this dissolution was
here on a great
were in the city
no part of my duty as
battlefield of that war.
seeking to destroy it
an abolitionist; that to
We have come to
without war—seeking
abstain from voting,
dedicate a portion of
to dissolve the Union
was to refuse to
it, as a final resting
and divide effects by
©2018 EdisonLearning
- All who
Rights Reserved
exercise a legitimate
place for those
negotiation. Both
"The most important
question before us
colored people is not
simply what the
Democratic party may
do against us or the
Republican party do
for us; but what are
we going to do for
ourselves? What shall
we do toward
developing our
character, adding our
The motivation
behind this text was to
devote a plot of land
that would become
officers public burial
ground. He gave this
discourse following
the skirmish of
Gettysburg
Excerpts from My Bondage
and My Freedom by
Frederick Douglass
"The Gettysburg Address"
by Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln's
Second Inaugural
Address
"The Great Problem to be
Solved" by Frances Ellen
Watkins Harper
What are the
rhetorical features of
the text?
Trenchancy
Imagination,
alliteration, and
transcription
pathos, adumbration,
and banishment.
pathos
How does this text
reflect or contribute to
the American identity?
It discusses the
experience of a slave
and the difficulties of
accomplishing an
opportunity.
It shows the amount
America really focuses
on the warriors who
lose their life for the
reason fortifying the
country.
It shows how
American is about
association without
struggle.
It shows how African
Americans came to
get familiar with their
motivation and
strength in America
and how the African
American population
is one.
©2018 EdisonLearning - All Rights Reserved
Excerpts from My Bondage
and My Freedom by
Frederick Douglass
Notable quotations
" To enslave men,
successtully and
safely, it is necessary
to have their minds
occupied with
thoughts and
aspirations short of
the liberty of which
they are deprived."
"The Gettysburg Address"
by Abraham Lincoln
"That this nation,
under God, shall have
a new birth of
freedom
- and that
government of the
people, by the people,
for the people, shall
not perish from the
Earth."
Abraham Lincoln's
Second Inaugural
Address
"The Great Problem to be
Solved" by Frances Ellen
Watkins Harper
" this terrible war"
Both
parties deprecated war,
but one of them
would make war,
rather than let the
nation survive, and
the other would
accept war rather than
let it perish. "
"The great problem to
be solved by the
American people, if I
understand it, is this:
Whether or not there
is strength enough in
democracy, virtue
enough in our
civilization, and
power enough in our
religion to have
mercy..."
©2018 EdisonLearning - All Rights Reserved