Name: Minh Tran
Class: English 101
Professor: Teddy Chocos
The second academic paper
3, April, 2012
The Strength of Unity
Have you ever wondered why America has another name, The United States? the name
of a country is very important which not only symbolizes for that country, but also are the same
name for all its citizens. in this case Americans chose to put the word “United” because they
wanted to show that unity is the most significant factor in America. also, they wanted to
explained that without the unity of Nation, America could not become a independent, strong and
wealthy country.therefore, unity plays a main role in the culture and society of Americans which
was clarified clearly in three works of three famous authors, including “The declare of
Independent”of Thomas Jefferson, the Inaugural Address of The US president, John F.
Kennedy,and the first Inaugural Address of another US president, Richard Milhous Nixon. three
of them clearly presents that being united can help Americans not only to fight for freedom, but
also to protect them from war and to improve their country in any problems.
First of all, the most important role of unity which is explained clearly in a document,
"The Declaration of Independence" of Thomas Jefferson is to make people in a country become
united in order to be strong enough to fight for independence. the author started his writing with
"The Laws of Nature". his idea is that he defended against slavery, and he also significantly
expressed that people are basically equal regardless of race. moreover, Jefferson’s words gave
hope to both blacks and landless whites, laborers, women, and future generations, then. the
author kept the Declaration relatively short in order to make it direct, understandable, and
forceful. he mentioned that the reason for difficulty of americans which is being hardly suffered
from the control of British government is the separation of Americans. he wrote " a decent
respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them
to the separation" (para. 1). also, he explained that "all men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights" (para. 2). Well, although he said that
everybody is created equal, he never addressed those issue directly. He strongly defended against
unfareness but the racism in america. By those powerful words, he directly wanted to make
Americans believe in the equality of life is that all people are equal even they have different
lives.
Moreover, another purpose when he mentioned about the equality of life is that all
americans deserve to have the human rights. therefore, they have to become more united and
braver to battle against the British government. nevertheless, by using the phrase, "He has"
Jefferson clearly listed all the crimes and cruel ways of managing the colonies of king George III
to explain to Americans that all americans were suffering the violent dominance of the tyrant, not
only slaves, so they should fight together for the independence of their country. In the brief
speaking, he strongly explained his ideas of the Americans' difficulties, revolution against
George III, to provide arguments and evidences about the cruel ways of colonizing of British
government. He wanted to lighten and wake the patriotism of every american citizen to become
united to fight for freedom. in other words, he concluded that fighting for freedom and creating a
new government were very necessary, and the only way that Americans can achieve it is to unite,
come and fight together to become the United states of America.
The second speech which also presented the importance of unity for improving and
keeping peace for the world is the inaugural address of John F. Kennedy. like the idea of
Jefferson in the “declaration of Independence”, he pointed out that the human rights, liberty and
peace can only be preserved when everybody unites and works together "To those old allies
whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United,
there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do—
for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder" (para. 6). the author's idea
is by deviding the problem and solving it together is the best way to improve. also, he suppoted
the unity of all nations, " But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort
from our present course …, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the
hand of mankind's final war" (para. 13). He required the unity of not only every american, but
also people around the world in order to stop the Cold War and preserve the peace from nuclear
wars.
Aditionally, unlikely the other Presidents’, his speech proved that unity has the most
significant role for the real life to end the difficulties of comunism,establish freedoom and peace
for people with all enemies, including " tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself "( para. 22).
moreover, he mainly enhanced the neceities in his speech that by uniting we can create a new
peaceful world for every people. for example, he used many times the phrase "Let both sides" to
clarify that he offered the allience of all nations to make the world better, his goal. in addition, he
noticed"All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000
days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet" (para.
20). he focused on foreign policy to make it clear and reasonable for not only americans but
others that his goal cannot be made in his lifetime but it has to be continued by everyone's
responsibility for a peaceful and safe world in the long run.
For americans, he also sent a message that "My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what
America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man" (para. 26). he
strongly encouraged the unity of each individual in the US in order to fight for freedom and
improve their country against the separation of nation and war. The main idea of his saying is
Americans could do anything, could win anybattle and could get what they are deserved to get
only if they do it together. Lastly, his famous quote " ask not what your country can do for you—
ask what you can do for your country" (para. 25). He expressed that all americans should aware
and start doing and working together, and the their better country has to be made by them not to
stay and expect everything could be done for them. throughout his strong and powerful speech,
kennedy successfully stated a sense of a united country is that by sticking together, they can get
through any problems. therefore, he really forced to make his idea more obvious and
understandable for Americans.
Thirdly, similar to the inaugural Address of Kennedy, the speech of Richard Milhous
Nixon also mainly spoke about the unity of nation that can make the world better. At the
beginning of his speech, he said “we celebrate the unity that keeps us free”(para.1). Well, he
explained that unity is the most significant factor that helped America become an independent
country. although he mentioned the same idea as Kennedy, his idea is that he wanted encourage
Americans to prove and preserve the title of America, “peacemaker”. in order to persuade people
that America can only be the strongest when they know how to unite, the author pointed out the
numerous of achievements in science, education, technology and agriculture. for example, he
said “The second third of this century has been a time of proud achievement. We have made
enormous strides in science and industry and agriculture. We have shared our wealth more
broadly than ever. We have learned at last to manage a modern economy to assure its continued
growth” (para. 13).
Also, he clarified “the better angels of our nature are goodness, decency, love, kindness”
which only can come from a united nation. more obvious, he said “ The simple things are the
ones most needed today if we are to surmount what divides us, and cement what unites us” (para.
25). nevertheless, Nixon made his idea became more clearly by giving his definition of freedom
of a country that is people can work together, help each other and share the scarify of their own
destiny. (para. 44). to give an explanation for this idea, he said that “No man can be fully free
while his neighbor is not” (para. 48). he explained that how an American can live safely among
poor people who have the most potential reason to become criminals.
In other words, a safe and strong society is a united society. his idea is that black and
white people should unite and help each other to get better and they should just have one nation.
with other countries around the world, the author suggested a durable friendship, created by
strongly and faithfully unity, “As we explore the reaches of space, let us go to the new worlds
together—not as new worlds to be conquered, but as a new adventure to be shared”(para. 57).
like Kennedy, Nixon believed that be together, we can solve all the problems. finally, a very
smart way to help people to understand the importance of being united is that he shared his
experiences about hungers and homeless children. by giving true and reliable examples, Nixon
expressed that why we have to separate, to make wars and to cause more troubles for ourselves
because the victims who are gonna suffer all negative result are us. To be more specific, he
offered the unity of all nations for a peaceful world.
Three famous document of three famous author clearly show different roles of unity
in America, as well as any country around the world. throughout these works, readers can
understand more about the importance of being united in fighting for freedom, improving the
world and protecting their country from wars. all the works have the same idea about unity
which is the most important valus for a strong and sustainable country. These
Presidents’speeches are not only powerful but effective and lasting. Therefore, they have
become timeless works for the humans’ literature treasure.