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How Is The Rhetorical Devices Used In The Declaration Of Independence

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The speech by Abraham Lincoln, opposing Steven Douglas on the Dred Scott decision, reveals his views on slavery and racial equality. In his speech, rhetorical schemes are used to persuade his audience and make his point about his perspective on the court decision. The use of repetition of the word “and”, makes the sentence feeling intense,making the audience feel what they have created by slavery. The repetition of the word, “and”, when indicating the view of the people in the modern day viewing the Declaration: “it is assailed, and sneered at, and construed, and hawked at, and torn”, this quote he states implies more and more, making the words very intense which imitate the lashing of the whip on the black slaves. Lincoln considers the modern …show more content…

Lincoln quotes Douglass, who states, “No man can vindicate the character, motives, and conduct of the signers of the Declaration of Independence except upon the hypothesis that they referred to the white race alone, and not to the African.” The words, “character”, “motives”, and “conduct”, are related to each other. One’s character has motives which turns into their conduct and they act upon their motives these three words have similar meaning. In addition to antithesis and repetition of the word, “and”, Lincoln uses sarcasm when he elaborates on Douglass’s quote, “I had thought the Declaration contemplated the progressive improvement in the condition of all men everywhere; but no, it merely ‘was adopted for the purpose of justifying the colonists in the eyes of the civilized world in withdrawing their allegiance from the British crown, and dissolving their connection with the mother country.’ ” He uses sarcasm to show the audience that Douglass is opposing what the Declaration is stating, he’s framing him that he’s not patriotic and his words don’t line

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