Benjamin Banneker Declaration Of Independence Rhetorical Analysis

Imagine being locked in a confined cage. No matter how much you struggle, and no matter how hard you try, you cannot escape that cage unless someone lets you out with a key. This was what life of slavery was like in 1791, and Benjamin Banneker truly expresses that in his letter of persuasion to secretary of state Thomas Jefferson. “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” Banneker quotes the Declaration of Independence. Using this reference is only one of his many strategies used in the letter. His persuasive tactics merge together to present a persuasive argument. “...How pitiable it is to reflect that although you were so fully convinced of the benevolence of the Father of mankind and of his equal and impartial distribution of those rights and privileges which he had conferred upon them, that you should at the same
time counteract his mercies in detaining by fraud and violence so numerous a part of my brethren under groaning captivity and cruel oppression, that you should at the same time be found guilty of that most criminal act which you professedly detested in others with respect to yourselves.” (lines 31-41). Banneker uses this irony to make a point that Jefferson is committing an act of wrong and unjust. He states how it is ironic that Jefferson claimed that he was against violence and oppression, yet he still continues to allow and enforce slavery. This could swirl up feelings of embarrassment and shame in Jefferson, which could change his point of view and emotions toward this issue. Instead of just simply listing the statements on his opinion of slavery, he also uses emotional words to express his beliefs.
“This, sir, was a time in which you clearly saw into the injustice of a state of slavery and in which you had just apprehensions of the horrors of its condition.” These phrases create a tone of anger and resentment, and express his true emotions and feelings into this piece. Using such word choice throughout this whole letter, Banneker could easily appeal to his audience’s emotions as well. Using such strategies mentioned (and many more), Thomas Jefferson or any other reader who comes across it could easily be persuaded and shown Banneker’s point of view about the issues of slavery. He even uses references from the Declaration of Independence, which Jefferson contributed on. Expressing these strong opinions and persuasive methods in this letter shows that Benjamin Banneker believed that Thomas Jefferson was the one who held the key to the cage of
slavery.