The essay considered here dates from his earlier political days before he broke through to his new level of statesmanship.
In contrast, King's essay is stamped with the urgency. Already having been jailed for his beliefs and having been misunderstood by his white ecclesiastical peers, King writes with a timeliness which knows that it must push others away from their ignorance and sloth. The commanding tone which King adopts for his audience is nevertheless spiked with compassion. His approach is if you knew what I knew than you would feel as I do. Herein lies the strategy and the success of his letter. King's missive strives to allow others to join his cause, a second call for abolition attempting to debunk social slavery still so prevalent in the US, especially in the South. King's participation in the Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee (SNCC) in Alabama was part of a "community-mobilizing tradition" with large-scale goals to be enacted through relatively "short-term public events" (Payne, 2).
As a young Illinois lawyer Lincoln wished to uphold the laws of the land. His concern for the growing sense of lawlessness led him to compose "The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions." The essay begins with Lincoln reflecting upon the fundamental blessings of America. He observes that Americans enjoy a bountiful "legacy" shaped by "a government of a system of political institutions" designed by our forebears to ensure civil and religious liberty (Lincoln, 80). According to Lincoln, it is the duty of Americans to safeguard the peace and prosperity which these institutions have afforded us. Early in the essay Lincoln aligns the task of the ancestors as that of "possession" while contemporary Americans must "perform" tasks which perpetuate this peace (Lincoln, 80).
Next Lincoln suggests that the dangers for our country's destruction lie within our borders rather than outside of them. America's destruction will...