Apess Vs Petalesharo Essay

Apess and Petalesharo are Native American were Native American authors whose style, tone and argument are very different. Apess used shared Christian beliefs to bolster his argument and his rhetorical form is one of encounter between the Native and Christian cultures. Apess asked his white audience to look in the mirror and he was more direct in criticizing his audience. Although he does not base his writings on Scripture, he quoted Scripture later in the selection as support for his argument. His purpose was to “penetrate more fully into the conduct of those who profess to have principle”, and who tell us to “follow Jesus Christ and his ancient disciples” (Apess B: 156). He then questioned whether any of them would go near Christ. He quoted scripture “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” to indicate that when his audience looks in the mirror they see Native Americans (Apess B:156).

Petalesharo’s approach was much different than Apess’s in that he did not criticize the whites. He acknowledged the differences between whites and Indians and asserted that the government should just leave them alone. He wrote that the Great Spirit “made whites to cultivate the earth” and “us, red skins to rove through the uncultivated woods”,

Both Douglass and Walker maintained that the nation had failed to live up to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence but their reasoning was diverse. Walker believed that the author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, was a racist. He encouraged blacks to violently resist their masters and he wrote that blacks when faced with possibly enslavement should “kill or be killed” (Levine B: 792). Walker despised whites, categorizing them as “unjust, jealous unmerciful, avaricious and blood thirsty set of beings, always seeking after power and authority” Walker B: