Rhetorical Analysis Of Benjamin Banneker

Benjamin Banneker, son of former slaves, wrote to Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, in attempt to argue against slavery to achieve a solution. Jefferson and Washington were the secretary of state, and the President of the United States at the time, so in order to convince them Banneker has to be very persuasive so that they can even consider his proposition. Banneker uses three main tactics to try and persuade Jefferson and Washington, these tactics are: Comparing Jefferson’s and Washington’s experiences to his own and trying to find a common link for them to understand and identify themselves with, appealing to common sense, and he leaves room open to interpretation and lets Washington and Jefferson the ability to decide what to do about the problem. Banneker uses comparisons to find a common link with his audience, this tactic can be effective if used properly with relevant examples. What Banneker does is that he uses specific examples to compare, one of the examples he uses, is the American Revolution; He compares slavery to the lack of freedom that the U.S had when they were a British colony. He uses these comparisons because he knows that Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were founding fathers, which makes them a perfect

Banneker uses common sense throughout the whole passage, he uses common sense every time he talks about an issue. He uses examples of how slavery and the lack of freedom for slaves goes against the laws of common sense, he is doing this in an attempt to appeal to Washington and Jefferson using his idea of common sense. Common sense can also be connected to the first tactic since they are often in the same sentence, this could possibly add value to the sentence to be able to persuade Jefferson and Washington more