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Fourth Of July Rhetorical Analysis

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Frederick Douglass, a well-known self-taught former slave, gave a speech about the Fourth of July on July 5, 1852 that challenged the institution of slavery and revealed the hypocrisy of the Fourth of July to slaves. Douglass uses ethos, pathos, and logos throughout his speech in order to convince his audience that there is no conceivable reason for slavery to exist. His audience were rich white citizens, including the president. Douglass first uses ethos by introducing himself to his audience and explaining how he got there, “… the distance between this platform and the slave plantation, from which I escaped, is considerable…” which establishes him as a former slave. The use of ethos isn’t a traditional one in this speech. Frederick Douglass, a very well-known speaker during this time, wouldn’t need ethos to prove himself credible. In this introduction he’s trying to appeal to the audience by acting like a grateful Freedman while subtly showing his credentials He talks about only speaking to he has a “little experience and with less learning” and had only spoken at “public meetings, in country school houses” yet states he has spoken to …show more content…
He refers to things like the country has existed for “Three score years and ten” and they used to exist “under the British Crown” which are just facts of their history. Basically, all accomplishes in this section is telling the story of their independence. As he goes through it the audience are happy and prideful of their history, this causes them to pay attention which will be useful for the next section where he gets to the main point of his speech. However, one thing that should be taken notice of is Douglass’ consistent use of “you” when he refers to this audience. He reinforces this to show that there is a difference in meaning and history between himself, a black former slave, and his audience, white rich

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