1850 American Gold Tycoon.

1856 was an important turning point in Lincoln's life.

This year, Lincoln decided to devote himself to politics, trying to save the country that was about to fall apart.

In 1855, Lincoln entered Congress as a member of the Illinois State Representative, successfully entering the highest stage of American politics.

And this time, Lincoln entered the American political arena as one of the founders of the Republican Party, and his political status has been qualitatively improved compared to before.

Perhaps he himself did not expect that he, a poor boy from the bottom, would become the most important figure in the history of the Republican Party, not one of them.

This newborn young political party will dominate the development of the United States in the second half of the 19th century, creating the rise of this powerful country. After a hundred years, the Republican Party is still one of the two major ruling parties in the United States.

Members of Congress are already unattainable heights for ordinary people, but Lincoln has achieved this in just a few years.

Completed the gorgeous transformation from a political amateur in the country to entering Congress with those gentlemen in frock coats.

Lincoln did not stop his climbing steps. He knew that a mere Illinois congressman was not enough to influence American politics.

Now, he is working hard to become the senator and governor of the state of Illinois.

"Everyone, may I ask why we gathered here?"

Lincoln's slender fingers pointed to the topic of today's speech: The United States - a great and free country.

"free!"

The hallowed word of liberty resounds in the open-air plazas of Springfield for a long time.

People at this time still remember the lawyer's speech in front of the Crystal Palace in New York when the Kansas crisis broke out last year.

Unlike those politicians who are only interested in showing off, Lincoln really donated all his assets after his speech to support the people of Kansas in defending their freedom and save Kansas from becoming a savings bank. slave state.

In the eyes of northerners, Kansas did not become a slave state in the end, which was a great victory.

As for Lincoln, after donating all his property, he almost divorced his 200-pound wife because of property problems.

The well-dressed gentlemen regarded this topic as a joke before and after dinner, and joked that Lincoln was a fool and a blind man.

As for donating money, a high-profile donation of hundreds or thousands of dollars is enough to make sense, and it is like buying a headline in a newspaper to advertise yourself.

Donate all?Only fools donate it all.

And Lincoln was such a fool.

But the vast majority of ordinary citizens find it not funny at all.Instead, they feel that Mr. Lincoln is not a fool, but a respectable person.

Since he was in Illinois in his early years, Lincoln often litigated for the poor in Illinois for free, and accumulated a good reputation in Illinois.

Therefore, Lincoln returned to Illinois to announce his entry into politics. When he participated in the Illinois state legislature election, Lincoln became the Illinois representative with absolute advantage.

Lincoln alone received almost as many votes as the rest of the House of Representatives combined, which is very rare in American history.

Therefore, it was a joke at the time that Lincoln's political opponents did not believe that such a result was true.

Lincoln ran for the Illinois state legislature twice, in 1832 and 1836, when Lincoln was running for the Democratic Party.

Recently, the Democratic Party has repeatedly been suspected of electoral fraud. Lincoln's political opponents judged others by themselves, reported Lincoln's election fraud, and demanded a re-election.

It was only after investigation later that there was indeed fraud in this election, but the electoral fraud was a Democratic candidate who secretly stuffed more than 30 electoral votes for Lincoln into his ballot box.

This incident also became a joke for a while. After these two incidents, Lincoln's already tall image became even taller in the eyes of the people of Illinois.

People in Illinois will vote for Lincoln even if they close their eyes and cover their ears.

The gentlemen who came here to listen to Lincoln's speech came to hear Lincoln's speech with the mentality of political speculation. To be precise, they were evaluating whether Lincoln was worthy of political investment.

And those ordinary people who spent a week or two or even a month's salary at their own expense to come to Springfield City really came to hear Lincoln's speech.

After all, the most valuable thing in the poor is the simple patriotism.

In this era when information is underdeveloped and the cultural quality of the poor is generally low, they are the most easily induced group of people.

Rather than saying that they came to listen to Lincoln's speech, it is better to say that they saw hope in Lincoln, and pinned their hopes on this eloquent lawyer who came from a miserable background.

"Yes, more than 80 years ago, our ancestors united under the banner of freedom, won the precious freedom from the British, and established the greatest country in human history!"

Lincoln spoke passionately and passionately.

"My dear freedom-loving fellow citizens, I stand here today to share with you an important topic: the greatness of free nations.

Why is America great?The ancestors who came to the New World on the Mayflower will tell you that it is freedom.

The soldiers who died in the Revolutionary War will also tell you that it is freedom, because the word freedom has long been engraved on their tombstones, engraved in the hearts of every American who yearns for freedom.

Because of freedom, our country has become the only piece of Eden that God has given to the world.

Because of freedom, our country can continuously attract immigrants who yearn for freedom from all over the world every year. They are not afraid of hardships and obstacles, and they are not afraid of life and death. They travel across the ocean to come to this great free country. "

High-speed industrialization will strengthen the power of the bourgeoisie, and the bourgeoisie will try its best to instill a point of view among the people to divert class contradictions, that is, the wealth of capitalists is the wealth of the entire nation.Therefore, countries that have experienced rapid industrialization in modern times, especially late-developing countries, often have something called national pride.

America is no exception.

After the restoration of the Second French Empire, the United States became the only remaining republic in the world, with an ideology and political system completely different from those of continental Europe.

Under the influence of concepts such as Manifest Destiny, the people of the United States are also willing to believe that their country is God's chosen country, and their country's ideology and political system have unique advantages.

And freedom is the value that the United States regards as the foundation of the country and written into the Constitution.

Nature is sacred in the eyes of the public, and they will not allow anyone to defile this word.

Like the poorest patriot in the East End, even the poorest patriot in America cannot help puffing out his chest when he thinks he is free.

No matter how powerful the United Kingdom is, all the British people are still the subjects of Queen Victoria. We are different in the United States. No matter how poor we are, we are not the subjects of anyone, but free people with a free body.

Seeing the audience puffing up their chests involuntarily, Lincoln continued to strike while the iron was hot.

"Now someone is blatantly trampling on the freedom that our ancestors bought with their blood and lives. Can we accept it?"

"cannot!"

"Yes! No!" Lincoln waved his powerful fists in mid-air.

"Freedom is the value on which our country exists, and we should fight for it.

I believe that every human being should be free, which is a fundamental right given to us by God.

But now, our freedom is threatened, and the evil slavery system is endangering our freedom and dignity, and eroding our country.

What the southern slave owners whipped with their whips was not black slaves, but our constitutional freedom!They are whipping liberty with wanton whips.

My compatriots who yearn for freedom, what should we do? "

"Destroy that bloody slavery! Free the slaves!"

"As a Republican, I firmly believe that slavery is immoral, unjust, and a tarnish to the image of the American nation! It is a desecration of human dignity!
I want to appeal to everyone to join us in supporting the Republican Party!Destroy the evil of slavery.We must stand up for freedom with our voices and actions, so that the light of freedom can shine on every inch of American soil! "

As soon as Lincoln made this remark, the audience in the audience burst into warm applause.

At this moment, in their hearts, defending freedom is tantamount to abolishing slavery, and abolishing slavery is tantamount to supporting the Republican Party, and supporting the Republican Party is naturally to defend freedom.

The pride in their hearts could not help but arise spontaneously. It turned out that voting for the Republican Party and supporting Mr. Lincoln was to defend freedom with action!
The speech has achieved the desired effect, but Lincoln still did not stop speaking. He attacked the Democratic Party:

"I want to criticize pro-slavery Democrats who gave up liberty to protect slavery, who have betrayed the core values ​​of our country by desecrating liberty for fleeting gains.

This is unforgivable and we must unite to defeat their plot.Gentlemen!We must unite and fight for freedom"

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Lincoln instilled freedom in the ignorant audience in Springfield, and Liang Yao also led troops in Portland to defend the settlement freedom of Chinese immigrants.

Governor Stevens of the Northern Oregon Territory was fighting the Indians near Puget Sound, later known as the Seattle area.

So it was May, 1856, by the time Stevens withdrew from the war and arrived on Portland's north shore with his band of beggar soldiers.

Under the protection of the Oregon Militia, Chinese immigrants have already laid a foundation in a large area on the North Shore, and even houses have taken shape at such a fast speed.

Seeing this scene, Stevens' nose crooked in anger.

Stevens has not spent much time dealing with Chinese immigrants. He knows that as long as the house is not built, the Chinese immigrants are relatively easy to drive away.

Once the house is built, these Chinese who regard the house as their life may not be able to drive them away with guns.

Stevens ran up to Liang Yao angrily, and asked Liang Yao sharply, "Your Excellency? What do you mean?!"

"What do you mean, I was just about to ask you!"

Liang Yao threw a Lee Enfield P53 rifle in front of Stevens.The inscription of Birmingham Arsenal is still clearly visible on the gun.

"Do you recognize this gun?"

"British rifles, what's so strange." Stevens glanced at the rifles on the ground and said nonchalantly.

"A traitor like you can join the Democratic Party, no wonder the Democratic Party is getting worse day by day." Liang Yao sneered.

"What do you mean, who are you calling a beauty?" Stevens was furious.

"I said you are a traitor, not a traitor, where did you get these guns?" Liang Yao asked sharply.

"I bought it from the British!" Stevens said emphatically.

"Buy?" Liang Yao sneered.

"Let's not say that this is an active weapon of the British. Will the British sell it to you? Even if it is sold, the purchase price of the British Army from the Birmingham Arsenal is 3 pounds 9 shillings 8 pence. Can you afford this gun? ?”

Stevens was speechless for a moment. Of course, he couldn't afford such expensive guns. In fact, these guns were given to him by Elliot.

He allowed the British to build a port stronghold at Bellingham, 30 kilometers away, to provide an anchorage for British ships.

In return, the British gave him 1500 of the so-called most advanced guns.

Those captives confessed to Liang Yao all the dirty things Stevens did.

This speech is the content of Lincoln's 1856 speech at the Bloomington Convention in Springfield, Illinois. Unfortunately, the speech at that time has not been completely preserved.

There are only some records, newspaper articles, and other fragmentary documents of the parties involved. If they are not first-hand sources, some contents may not be credible, and there are also many private work of the recorders and writers.

Historically, after this speech, Lincoln became a hot figure in the Republican Party, laying the foundation for winning the 1860 election.