...The Declaration of Independence was drafted upon the virtue of a free government. Under British rule, America was not granted the freedom and independence the nation required to advance and prosper. In order to separate from British ties, colonists of the oppressed America, under the righteous names of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin, as well as other familiar titles, constructed the Declaration of Independence. The text constituted the right to separate from Britain and form a new government. The first draft of the Declaration was penned by Thomas Jefferson, who believed in a strict interpretation of the document. Using rhetorical devices, the purpose of the text was evident among colonists: to establish a free, independent government among the nation, separate from British rule, and to protect the fundamental rights of the people. The compilers of the Declaration included rhetorical devices within the text to ensure trust and credibility in their efforts. One example of the way the drafters were able to achieve this was by using ethos, while simultaneously using parallelism. The approach of using these rhetorical devices elicits a response of trust in the reader and stresses the importance of independence. The repetition of the word “our” emphasizes the immense commitment of the promise the...
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...The Dividing Declaration The Declaration of Independence was written in 1776, to declare to the world, that the British colonies in America were declaring themselves as an independent nation. What made this document so profound, was the reference to the laws of nature and the rights that man had to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. In the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson, the author composes a document that changed the history of humanity by including rhetorical devices, such as, imagery, anaphoras, and capitilization. In Jefferson's document, he uses imagery as one of his rhetorical devices for an effective understanding of what he was experiencing or going through. This rhetorical device gives a clear picture of how the way things worked when he was in Great Britain and how it became completely necessary to dissolve the political bands between Britain and the United States. “He has refused Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good” (Jefferson 263). This develops an image of the King sitting on his thrown while people are not even given the necessary needs for living. By stating that sentence as a visual concept, it has caused readers to think about how harsh the people were treated by the king. Throughout the passage there are many statements that create a vivid idea of what Jefferson tries to get across in his passage. Another device used throughout Jefferson's passage are anaphoras, which assist into re-emphasizing...
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...Racial injustice is like a cigarette. Abusing the person who is smoking as well as afflicting pain onto all other beings in the area. The only people who are benefitting are the people dishing out the cigarettes like the people who are holding the slaves. Racial injustice and slavery is wrong and Banneker pinpoints this argument through allusion, emotional expressions, and ethos. Banneker used the rhetorical strategy allusion to argue against slavery. In the article, Banneker quotes the Declaration of Independence. This is significant because Banneker is writing to Thomas Jefferson who wrote the Declaration of Independence so Banneker is turning Jefferson’s work against him to prove him point. “We hold these truths to be self-evident,...
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...knowledge as a preacher and used anaphora, parallelism, and historical references to grab the attention of his audience. King’s experience as a preacher and as a civil rights activist was evident in the artistry of the speech. With King’s experience as a preacher, he has given numerous sermons in his lifetime. He has formed a technique that he continuously practices in his sermons, so his audience can relate to him and make the sermon more effective. His technique includes rhetorical devices such as anaphora and parallelism. An essential element of a preacher is being charismatic. This is a part of his technique because that charm is so compelling that it inspires devotion in others. King’s charisma also affects his...
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...(page 2 l. 12-13) In this example, King uses two rhetorical devices, alliteration and antithesis. Alliteration is the repetition of consonants in the beginning of sentences. Antithesis is the way a speaker makes sharp a contrast between two ideas. In this context, they were used with the intent of keeping the listener interested, appealing to the pathos.In the following quote, ”Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand tonight, signed the Emancipation Proclamation” (page 1 l.3-4), King uses sponsorship effect, as a rhetorical device. He appeals to the ethos, by introducing his speech with the idea of a former president, he means to raise the confidence the public has with him. On this quote, ”Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. (…) Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children” (page 2 l. 12-15) King used an anaphora, which is beginning sentences with the same word or words. He used this to keep the public interested, appealing once more to their pathos.2. Kings speech was done in the time of the civil rights movement. The idea of ending segregation was the root of inspiration to his speech. The location in which this speech was done, together with the mentions King made to reinforce his ideas surely had an impact in making this, one of the most important speeches in American history. By mentioning the Emancipation Proclamation, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, King gave his words weight...
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...Rhetorical Analysis of MLK’s “I Have a Dream” Speech Martin Luther King Jr. was an American civil rights activist who boldly called an end to racism in the United States. On August 28, 1963 he delivered a speech in front of more than 250,000 civil rights supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial; a speech that became famous for its inspiration; a speech that was a defining moment for the American Civil Rights Movement; a speech plainly known as “I Have a Dream.” This infamous speech was so influential and moving because of the many rhetorical devices and appeals used that effectively related to the emotions and knowledge of the common people. Techniques used so beautifully and words spoken so genuinely that the hearts of those listening...
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...Ronald Reagan speech analysis In this assignment I will be examining a speech brought by Ronald Reagan. I will put the speech in the rhetorical pentagon and afterwards analyze it. I will especially focus on Ronald Reagan’s use of language, cause it’s really relevant when it comes to speeches, and also the choise of composition in the speech. The speaker of the speech is of cause Ronald Reagan. Reagan was the 40th president of the United States in the time between 1981 to 1989. He preached this speech in March 1983, at the Annual Convention of the National Convention of the National Association of Evangelicals. As said, the time was 1983, and at this time, the cold war was continuously going on, and the relationship between the Americans and the Soviet Union with its communism were therefore extremely bad, which also reflects in this speech. So the communism is a huge topic in this speech, and Reagan accomplishes to compare America to goodness, while he attacks the Soviets by comparing them to evil. The other major aspect in the speech of Ronald Reagan is about the increase in illegitimate births and abortions involving under aged girls. He mentions the clinics that were established in well-intentioned faith are offering different kind of services to the girls, without their parent even knowing it. He wants to change that, and maximize parental participation. This is the other major aspect of the speech, which of course is being told to the evangelicals of Orlando...
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...In order for a speech to be effective, the speaker must use rhetorical devices that can grab an audience’s attention and help them remember the speech forever. Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy, and Abraham Lincoln have made the most memorable speeches of all time because of the rhetorical devices they used. Reagan (“The Challenger”) used pathos, allusion, and parallelism. Kennedy (“Inaugural Address”) applied antithesis, parallelism, and anaphora. And Lincoln utilized allusion, anaphora, and epistrophe into his speech. Each of these speeches lasted anywhere from a minute to two hours. But in the end, length did not matter; the only thing that mattered is the rhetorical devices these president's used in order to get the nation to listen to them and therefore do what they are told. In Ronald Reagan’s “The Challenger” speech, he uses the rhetorical device pathos, or the appeal to emotion, in order to connect the pain that his family, the entire nation, and the families of those affected by the disaster were feeling. As WordPress.com said, “Reagan uses his delivery, use of dictation, and appeals to pathos to help attempt a...
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...Banneker expresses his stance against slavery using logos to recall the facts of historical significance, counteracting the Declaration of Independence by enclosing the ethics of Banneker's viewpoint and debriefs the reader upon traumatic events his ancestors witnessed linking pathos. In paragraph one Banneker thinks back to when the 13 colonies weren't in power and sovereign of the British. He makes statements conveying how people felt during the early 1600s to mid-1700s. (Kelly) Banneker says, “look back, I entreat you on the variety of dangers to which you were exposed… In which every human aid appeared unavailable… you cannot but acknowledge that the present freedom… which you enjoy, you have mercifully received… is the peculiar blessing of heaven.” In the previous reference, Banneker exemplifies how enslaved Africans felt. They believed their life was irredeemable and incurable to where they thought slavery would live on forever. When Banneker pulls in the example from the declaration, he uses logos to further his argument...
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...Declaration of Independence Essay The Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson describes the document's necessity in explaining why the colonies have chosen to separate themselves from the King of Britain, George III. In this document, it declares that all men are created equal and the people's unalienable rights should never be taken or violated by a government. It also expresses the violations King George III has violated such as imposing taxes on the colonists and prevention of openly trading. Thomas Jefferson is able to effectively construct the Declaration of Independence because his use of repetition and parallelism. Thomas Jefferson uses repetition such as 'he has' as a powerful tool in order to list the grievances...
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...Persuasion is a technique that aims to move an audience and grab their attention. Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence and Patrick Henry’s Speech in the Virginia Convention are influential arguments about independence that gain America’s attention. The two pieces compare and contrast in persuasive techniques. Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson both provide the colonists with reasons to declare their independence. At the same time, Henry urges his audience to unite and join the war against Britain while Jefferson encourages more peaceful tactics to gain independence. Patrick Henry wants the colonists to stand up and fight for what they believe in in order to win their independence. Thomas Jefferson, on the other hand, does not believe it matters what...
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...Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech took place on the monumental steps of the Lincoln Memorial. It was a warm August day in 1963 and the audience consisted of Americans anxious to hear the voice of the motivational Martin Luther King Jr. the overall purpose, how effective the speech was in his colossal audience, and his use of rhetorical devices, all contributed to creating one of America’s most commemorated speeches. The effectiveness of King’s speech undoubtedly relied on his incredible ability to relate to the audience, his diction, as well as how he used other documents in his speech to support his purpose. He related to the audience by using examples such as a faulty promissory note, and using songs that American’s...
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...A Rhetorical Analysis of MLK Jr.’s “I have a dream” Speech Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, one hundred years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, which outstandingly furthered the civil rights movement. At that time, racial segregation, police brutality, and other forms of racial inequality were terribly prominent in America. The speech successfully focused the country’s attention at the need for racial equality “Now” (King, I Have a Dream). King gave the speech in order to motivate his followers to peacefully continue to demonstrate, protest, and boycott until they were fully granted the equality and privileges that any other citizen was allowed to have. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech is his most notable, and one of the most influential of Twentieth-Century-America because of his excellent rhetorical use of repetition and anaphora, contrasting metaphors, and appropriate quotations and allusions throughout the speech. Martin Luther King Jr. used a profuse amount of repetition and anaphora throughout his speech. A subtle form of repetition, the repetition of singular words, was mainly used to emphasize key themes in the speech and keep them in the minds of the audience. Such repeated key themes were “freedom”, “justice” and “injustice”, “America” and “American”, and plural nouns such as “we” and “our”. Since the preceding words were repeated so frequently...
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...Women have been expressing their views on the injustice of voting rights for decades and the suffragists, Susan B. Anthony and Emmaline Pankhurst, portrayed their thoughts in the speeches “Is it a Crime for a Citizen of the United States to Vote” and “Freedom or Death.” Anthony’s speech focused on how the rights of different federal documents of the government are not exercised. Pankhurst spoke about the revolution of women’s rights and how they are viewed. Although both speeches are represented in contrasting ways, they similarly represent the idea of equality to women’s rights due to the multiple devices used. Susan B. Anthony uses the sense of ethos to describe the unequal society women face with not having the same rights as others. Her...
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...to the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and later also the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights. The ideal in these is that liberty and equality go hand in hand, but this is not always the case. The American Civil War is one the greatest examples on this. The war had its roots in the question about slavery, and it ended up costing the lives of more Americans than all of the U.S.’s subsequent wars together. On the afternoon of November 19 1863, four months after one of the Civil Wars bloody fights, the president at that time, Abraham Lincoln, holds a speech in which he encourages the people of America to end the war. Furthermore, he reminds the audience of the ideals on which America was founded, and how the Civil War is threatening them. Last but not least, Lincoln honors the fallen and encourages people to finish their unfinished work. Abraham Lincoln frames his speech in a historical perspective and introduces two of the most important American values already in his first sentence of his speech. “Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” (P. 1, ll. 1-2). With this introduction to his speech, Abraham Lincoln presents two of the fundamental values of America: equality and liberty. He begins his speech saying ‘fourscore and seven years ago’. This is a very noble way of saying ’87 years ago’ and it refers to the year the Declaration of Independence...
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