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Benjamin Banneker Letter To Thomas Jefferson Essay

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In 1971 Benjamin Banneker, the son of former slaves, wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson in a respectful but forceful manner, bringing to attention the topics of race and freedom. He touches on the topics of the way blacks were treated and seen by the white American citizens and how it is injustice. In his letter Banneker uses ethos, pathos, logos, and repetition to make Jefferson feel for them and to come to an understanding. Benjamin Banneker uses ethos to come to an understanding or on the same page that both of them have overcome troubles, him in slavery, and Jefferson in the independence of this country. He makes sure he has reliable sources while doing this. The direct quotes from political and religious documents is used as logos. He uses pathos by repeatedly comparing how Thomas Jefferson felt while fighting for …show more content…

“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.” He then uses Jeffersons own principles, that tied together politics and religious faith that everyone is created equal under God. This shows that he acknowledges the document but believes that it has been seen wrongly by the white men. He uses his knowledge of knowing Jefferson has a religious background, addressing the ideas of God, heaven and the bible. “...When respect to them and as Job proposed to his friends, ‘put your souls in their souls instead’, “ this comparison of Jefferson to a righteous man in the bible compliments him while guiding him in the direction that Banneker wants him to think. He states he doesn't need Jefferson to find and end-all solution to the horrible institution of slavery, but wants him to move away from the prejudices from owning

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