By the People An Introduction to American History, Politics, and Culture

Christopher PastoreDepartment of HistoryUniversity of Montana

Abraham Lincoln’sGettysburg Address (1863)

For Lincoln, the U.S. Civil War was fought to prove to the world that a “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

The American Revolution Continues …

By the People

By the People

12.5% of Americans or 38.5 million people are foreign born—the highest number in the world.

American Liberties

Thomas Paine (1737-1809)

Tatanka-Iyotanka“Sitting Bull” (1831-1890)

Battle of Little Bighorn(June 25-26, 1876)“The life my people want is a life of freedom.” –Sitting Bull

Wounded Knee (December 29, 1890)

Rosa Parks (1913-2005)

Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956)

“There comes a time when people get tired, tired of being segregated and humiliated; tired of being kicked around by the brutal feet of oppression.” –Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

March on WashingtonAugust 28, 1963

“I have a dream … of a day when the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. When all of God’s children … will be able to join hands and sing … ‘Free at lasts! free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’”

250,000 people,including 50,000 whites.

Civil Rights Act (1964)

American Inequity

American Promise

Family