Alfred Green's Rhetorical Strategies

Alfred Green uses many rhetorical strategies to convince free African Americans to join the Union forces. Green uses allusion, pathos, and repetition to persuade them to join in the fight. Green alludes to Thomas Paine, Washington, and Jackson. In lines 21-22, he uses the expression “days that tried men’s souls” as a direct allusion to Paine’s inspiring writings at the time of the American Revolution. He mentions the “brave deeds of our fathers” (line 9) Washington and Jackson as people who fought when called upon. By alluding to times such as the American Revolution, he is referring to other points in history when people fought against oppression. Green is trying to argue that the fight against oppression is one that can be won, and is saying