Frederick Douglass Use Of Ethos Pathos Logos

Independence Day, commonly referred to by the people of the United States as the Fourth of July, is a day where the people of this great nation celebrate the day our founding fathers adopted the Declaration of Independence. There are parades, food, fireworks, and family harmony during the celebration. Although these are the things that come to mind now, during the pre-Civil War era this specific day had not always been so jubilant. In 1852, Frederick Douglass--who is known as the most influential and sagacious African-American leader of the 1800s--was invited to give a speech to commemorate the Fourth of July. Despite the holiday being about joyous freedom, Douglass took his chance to speak about “The Hypocrisy of American Slavery.” In

Douglass uses anaphora to display that America claims to have good morals, but in reality, their antipathy has caused slaves the inability to celebrate. For example, Frederick Douglass conveys the message that The United States’ neglection of equality to all should be brought to the attention of the world, “The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed”(para. 14). Douglass says this to show the audience that America needs to start seeing their wrong morals and allow equality to everyone, not just people that are not African-American. The author continues the idea that America’s morals are incorrect because slaves can not celebrate by stating, “America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future”(para. 7). Douglass uses another example of anaphora to help the reader understand that America is lying to itself if it believes that they offer complete equality, and nothing is going to allow liberty to all if change does not happen. In brief, Frederick Douglass gives off the powerful message that America is amoral and is dishonest to its own people by using

Mainly, Frederick Douglass postulates that America should be embarrassed to have an independence day, “There is not a nation of the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour”(para. 15). In this citation, ethics is overwhelmingly shown in the matter of hypocrisy. Douglass is saying that the United States should be ashamed for trying to make slaves celebrate Independence Day. Moreover, the author continues to support the perspective that America should not be proud of conducting an Independence Day celebration: “...roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World...search out every abuse...lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival”(para. 16). This quotation elucidates that America is a hypocrite because the USA claims freedom for all types and prides itself on it, but in their own society people are discriminated against. In denouement, the author effectively uses ethical appeal to establish the aspect that America reigns number one in the dividing issue of