Rhetorical Analysis Of Letter To Benjamin Banneker

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Slavery has been a disease in society since the creation of mankind. The British, the Spanish, and even our ancestors as true Americans have participated in this cruel act. Since before the birth of America as a free country, until the late 19th century, this atrocious way of life has ripped young away from their mothers and left families broken. To speak out against this unbearable affliction, Benjamin Banneker, the son of former slaves, among many other things, wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson in 1791. In his letter, Banneker, to argue against slavery, incorporates irony, repetition, and formal diction. Banneker pens his letter to Jefferson with an undertone of irony in order to express that the father of the Declaration is not supporting the morally correct practices. Banneker, while addressing Jefferson claims that he (Jefferson) was a strict adherent of the “equal and impartial distribution” of rights granted by God to all mankind alike. Banneker elaborates through expressing that “you should at the same time counteract …show more content…
For example, as mentioned previously, Banneker constantly refers to Jefferson as “sir.” Through this language Banneker is establishing respect for Jefferson so that he does not feel criticized. This respect will cause Jefferson to give Banneker respect back as that is how humans function. This mutual respect will then allow Jefferson to take into account Banneker’s antislavery ideals and consider the injustices slavery enforces. Furthermore, the entirety of the passage includes no attacks on the ideals Jefferson supports or on Jefferson himself. Banneker, with the integrations of appropriate and well-mannered language merely suggests to Jefferson to “put your souls in their soul's stead”, thus emphasizing that Jefferson has the power, if he analyzes the conditions of the African Americans, to change the fate of
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