Below are a few well-written conclusions, crafted by your very own peers. The topic of the essay was: How are the ideals expressed in Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address still relevant today?"

     While 2008 introduces changing times, our morals, views and ideals are still very similar to the time of the Gettysburg Address, and to the speech itself. We continue to prove the fact that "all men are created equal", fulfilling Lincoln's hopes. We hope that many of the resolutions that came post-Gettysburg Address will come for us as well. The people of America need a sense of unity, and that we are "one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

     ... The journey we will have to take will not be easy, but we are already on our way. Our founding fathers started us, Abraham Lincoln kept us going in the right direction, and hopefully, Barack Obama will push us through this challenging time and into an era where we strive for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But Barack Obama cannot do it all for us. We will have to work hard, but as long as we follow the same pattern our country has followed for centuries, "Yes we can."

     ... It is important now more than ever to be reminded of why we should want to make our nation better. There are still demanding issues afoot, each with its own oppositions, like nuclear testing, the economic crisis, gay marriage, abortion, and the war in Iraq. We should look for common ground on these subjects. Let us follow our forefathers' example and make decisions based on America's ideals. Let us also try to focus, especially in times when we devalue our country's greatness, on the good of America. If we can all appreciate our history and the ideals that make our country so different from other countries, then we can  all find that incentive to rebuild our country in places where it seems to have broken. Lincoln wanted to inspire us again with America's patriotism because he knew it could bring us all together. Especially now, that is the one thing that we all, as citizens of the United States of America, have in common: our independent, righteous country and a patriotism that never dies.

     These two men [Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama], both from Illinois, almost 150 years apart, recognized this notion of democracy. These two men, both trying to unite a nation, recognized that all men are created equal. These two men, both giving words of wisdom, recognized that this is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people that will not perish from the Earth. These two men helped this country become and remain the United States of America.

     Whether all sides agree on the new agenda for our country or not, we need to learn to disagree on subjects without judging the other party or considering them morally inferior or unpatriotic; we need to be able to continue moving forward toward achieving our nation's ideals -- equality, unity, and liberty -- even if we disagree with one another. Abraham Lincoln said that the nation needed to unite to reinvent itself during the 1860s; we too need to unite as one nation in order to reinvent ourselves.