History's Greatest Speeches - Volume III

By Moses, Thomas Jefferson and Frederick Douglass

The most profound and important speeches ever delivered are here collected in this anthology, featuring some of the most influential figures in world history. From ancient times to the American Revolution to as recently as this past century, Fort Raphael Publishing has here collected seven of the most important and iconic speeches of all ti

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ft. Raphael Publishing Company
• Release date: Feb 14, 2021
• ISBN: 9781949661750

Moses

Moses (ca. 1392-1272 BC) was an Old Testament prophet and the liberator of the people of Israel. Born in Egypt during a time when the Pharaoh had ordered that all male Hebrew children be cast into the Nile River, Moses' mother is said to have placed him in a basket floating on the river where he was discovered and raised to manhood by none other than the Pharaoh's wife. As an adult, Moses witnessed an Egyptian guard beating a Hebrew slave and - attempting to stop the assault - Moses killed the guard. He fled to the desert to escape punishment and became a shepherd. Soon afterwards, he received a message from God that he should return to Egypt and demand that the Pharaoh release the Israelites from slavery. When the Pharaoh refused, Moses brought down nine terrible plagues on Egypt, forcing the Pharaoh to relent and freeing the Hebrew people. Following Moses into the desert, the children of Israel spent forty years in the wilderness, eventually arriving at Mt. Sinai which Moses ascended. He returned soon afterwards with two tablets, upon which God had inscribed what became known as the Ten Commandments.

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cover-image, History's Greatest Speeches - Vol. III - Draft #1

FORT RAPHAEL PUBLISHING CO.

OAK PARK, ILLINOIS

www.AudiobooksChicago.com

Copyright © 2020 by Ft. Raphael Publishing Company

All Rights Reserved.

Edited by Kevin Theis, Ft. Raphael Publishing Company

Front Cover Artwork and Graphics by Paul Stroili,

Touchstone Graphic Design, Chicago

HISTORY’S GREATEST

SPEECHES

VOLUME III

CONTENTS

ANCIENT TIMES THROUGH 1700

Moses - The Ten Commandments

Pericles - Funeral Oration - 431 BC

18th CENTURY

Maximilien Robespierre - The Virtue of Terror - 1792

19th CENTURY

Thomas Jefferson - First Inaugural Address - 1801

Chief Speckled Snake - Reply to President Jackson - 1829

Frederick Douglass - What to the Slave is 4th of July? - 1852

20th CENTURY

Marie Curie - The Discovery of Radium - 1921

MOSES

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

Moses (ca. 1392-1272 BC) was an Old Testament prophet and the liberator of the people of Israel.  Born in Egypt during a time when the Pharaoh had ordered that all male Hebrew children be cast into the Nile River, Moses’ mother is said to have placed him in a basket floating on the river where he was discovered and raised to manhood by none other than the Pharaoh’s wife.

As an adult, Moses witnessed an Egyptian guard beating a Hebrew slave and - attempting to stop the assault - Moses killed the guard. He fled to the desert to escape punishment and became a shepherd. Soon afterwards, he received a message from God that he should return to Egypt and demand that the Pharaoh release the Israelites from slavery. When the Pharaoh refused, Moses brought down nine terrible plagues on Egypt, forcing the Pharaoh to relent and freeing the Hebrew people.

Following Moses into the desert, the children of Israel spent forty years in the wilderness, eventually arriving at Mt. Sinai which Moses ascended. He returned soon afterwards with two tablets, upon which God had inscribed what became known as the Ten Commandments.

The following passage from Exodus contains the words God inscribed on the tablets, which Moses read aloud to his people.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

And God spake all these words, saying,

I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: on that day thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Thou shalt not kill.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Thou shalt not steal.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's.

And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.

And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.

And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.

PERICLES

FUNERAL ORATION

Pericles (495-429 BC) was a powerful and influential politician, orator and general in ancient Greece, so revered that he was declared by the Greek historian Thucydides as the first citizen of Athens. Personally responsible for the development of the Athenian Empire, Pericles led the armies of Athens in the first two years of the Peloponnesian War.

A proponent of arts and literature, Pericles directed the building of some of the longest lasting structures in Greek history, including the Parthenon itself. He succumbed to the Plague of Athens in 429 along with several members of his family.

Early in the Peloponnesian War, Pericles delivered the following funeral oration to honor the fallen soldiers of that conflict. This speech has often been favorably compared to Abraham Lincoln’s similar speech to honor the dead: the Gettysburg Address.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Most of my predecessors in this place have commended him who made this speech part of the law, telling us that it is well that it should be delivered at the burial of those who fall in battle.

For myself, I should have thought that the worth which had displayed itself in deeds