Circumstances

“A More Perfect Union” by Barack Obama was delivered in March 2008, at the Constitution Center in Philadelphia, during the electoral campaign for the US Presidency.

To understand the context (circumstances) of the speech, you should know that the election process for the US President is comprised of two sets of elections: primaries and general. The primary elections take place within the parties (the biggest American parties are the Republican Party and the Democratic Party) with the purpose of selecting a single nominee to represent the party in the general election—the one that establishes who will become the US president.

Barack Obama's speech on race was delivered during the presidential campaign for primary elections, when his biggest rival was Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

The speech was also delivered in the context of media controversy regarding the role that Barack Obama’s ethnicity played in the campaign. This is mentioned by the speaker himself in the speech:...