WRT 205: Plagiarism

WRT 205: Plagiarism Discussion Sheet

1. Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.

2. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today my friends — so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

3. We're approaching the end of a bloody century plagued by a terrible political invention -- totalitarianism. Optimism comes less easily today, not because democracy is less vigorous, but because democracy's enemies have refined their instruments of repression. Yet optimism is in order because day by day democracy is proving itself to be a not at all fragile flower. From Stettin on the Baltic to Varna on the Black Sea, the regimes planted by totalitarianism have had more than thirty years to establish their legitimacy. But none -- not one regime -- has yet been able to risk free elections. Regimes planted by bayonets do not take root.

4. Yesterday, December 7, 1941--a date which will live in infamy--the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its Government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.

5. Some eighty-seven years ago our ancestors, with the ideals of liberty and equality, founded this country. Yet presently we are in the midst of an awesome battle to test whether or not we can live up to those standards.

6. Come on! Take some Valium! We’ll make it through this together. So we’ve had some hard times, I don’t care. I have faith. Some day that faith will make everything all right. Some day we’ll all be okay.

7. An epoch is coming to an end, and it has been a tumultuous one to say the least. It is an easy thing to succumb to its horror, to the atrocities of totalitarianism, and to its cruel and precise techniques. Yet democracy is no weak thing, it too has its strengths, some just as terrible as its enemies, and it will prove itself, in the end, to be the fiercest opponent. From the Baltic to the Black Sea, and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Panama Canal, no regimes will withstand democracy’s might, for its most powerful weapon, free elections, is stronger than the ballistic missile.

8. Yesterday, September 11, 2001—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the terrorist forces of Al Queda which based their operations in Afghanistan. The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the request of the Afghanistan, was still in conversation with its Government looking towards the maintenance of peace in the Middle East.