An Analysis Of Burke's Speech

“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little,” proclaimed Edmund Burke. Many support this assertion that a grave mistake of the common people is to assume that doing only a little is no better than doing nothing at all. Abraham Lincoln, 16th president and speaker responsible for the “Gettysburg Address”, William J. Bennett, author of A Nation Worth Defending, and Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, all concur and provide solid defense of Burke’s idea. Abraham Lincoln’s famous speech, The Gettysburg Address, exemplifies a defense of Burke’s quote. He implies that the best thing the people of America can do to help those who perished in battle is continue to fight for what they believed in. Lincoln makes this clear when declaring, “It is for us the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced” (Lincoln 89). Although it does …show more content…
Advocating for fair treatment of African Americans in Maycomb County, Atticus urges each of those in the jury to do their part by stating “Gentleman, a court is only as sound as its jury, and a jury is only as sound as the men who make it up. I am confident that you gentlemen will review without passion the evidence you have heard, come to a decision, and restore this defendant to his family” (Lee 173). As individuals, the jury is weak, but as a whole, they are capable of freeing Tom and setting a new precedent in the treatment of African Americans, proving that every action can cause a significant chain reaction. Another assumption of those in Maycomb in favor of equal treatment of African Americans was that they could do nothing to help them, to change the status quo. However, the truth is, if following the statement made by Edmund Burke, they could put forth what little they had and really made an