From the years before its founding to contemporary times the United States of America has been a nation gifted with eloquent speakers whose impassioned oratory has been instrumental in calling attention to national values and motivating its people to express the beliefs which define it. Classic American Speeches collects over fifty speeches spanning more than two centuries that are an index to America’s history and the many rights and causes its citizens have fought for and defended. Their speakers are soldiers and statesmen, politicians and presidents, laymen and laywomen, all of whom represent the best and brightest orators of their times and who knew the best ways to engage their audience—we, the people of the United States.