I got an A- on this. I'm trying to write an essay right now on Ithaca, but looking at this essay depresses me, because I could really say something about it. I can say nothing about Ithaca. My sentences are becoming choppier and choppier. How did I write so smoothly? I don't remember.

Alfred Green Speech
In 1861, African Americans were not yet permitted to join the Union Army. However, author Alfred M Green felt the need for African Americans to strive to be admitted to the ranks and prepare to enlist in the Union Army in his powerful and influential speech. Green both persuades and motivates his fellow man through the use of fortifying allusions, heartening tone, and promising diction. Using “us” instead of “you”, Green makes a deeper connection to his fellow man, lifting their relationship to a higher level, which allows a higher affect on the audience. However, Green’s most persuasive reasoning comes from his idea that joining the Union army is a moral issue rather than a practical one. Rather than persuading other African Americans with concrete, tangible rewards, he makes the reason for joining the army not only a moral, but also, a spiritual one.
Green starts his speech by referring to the bravery and true patriotism of a “race in whose hearts burns the love of country, of freedom, and of civil and religious toleration”. In this single sentence, Green is able to unite both whites and blacks into one race - American. This immediately raised the African Americans to the social class of the whites, making them richer; making them part of the higher moral issue, as if equal to whites - a balance which lasts throughout most of the entire speech.
However after starting off with a strong, positive tone, Green goes back to the reality at hand. In 1861, African Americans were not as socially acceptable as they are today. Green begins listing problems that were issues in that time, such as the fugitive-slave laws, which enforced slavery even when dealt with in the North, and the Dred Scott decision which depressed African Americans across the nation. He mentions these problems not to depress his fellow man, but rather, motivate them by saying that these are problems they can overcome if they join the Union army.
Green goes on to say that African Americans shouldn’t find fault over past events, but rather, says in his one-hundred word sentence, “create within us (them) that burning zeal and enthusiasm for the field of battle which inspires other men in the full enjoyment of every civil and religious emolument.” He starts off this sentence by using words such as “burning zeal” to elicit their moral outrage and eventually ends with “…and above all, let not the honor and glory achieved by our fathers be blasted or sullied by a want of true heroism among their sons,” meaning to fight against the immoral chaos known as the Confederates to bring the peace that their ancestors died for.
Green ends his speech with a powerful and spiritual final paragraph. He tells the audience to “take up the sword, trusting in God” and defend the right, making it seem like they were the holy knights about to purge the South of all evil. He says that not only would enlisting in the Army help stop the “tyrant system of slavery” but “inspire your (their) oppressed brethren of the South” saying that not only would they be doing what is morally right, but they would be inspiring others to do the same.