An Analysis of the Social Problems Concerning Slavery in American Society

During the decades after the War of 1812, American possessed a strong sense of nationalism. This pretentious concept of nationalism allowed the nation to settle its increasing differences between diverse areas of the United States. However, by the mid-nineteenth century. The efforts to that attempted to unite the country in the past were useless against the recently more intense pressure that were working to divide the nation and inevitably cause a bitter civil war. In order to determine that slavery was one of the main causes of the American Civil War, the social, political, and economical aspects of this cruel institution must be identified.

To begin with, there were many social problems concerning slavery and its role in American society. The Black family was utterly destroyed. Many slaves were separated from their families because they were sold or traded. This resulted in a majority of the slaves not knowing their heritage, not knowing when or where they came from. Abolitionists in the North and the South saw this peculiar institution as a cruel, degrading system that exploited African Americans.

But White southerners defended slavery and tried to portray it as a good, beneficial program. For example, Ulrich B. Phillip claimed that slavery was a primarily harmless system in which friendly slaveholders monitored servile, infantile and usually happy Black slaves. Actually, this was the belief of many masters in the South. To them, Blacks were an inferior race that needed to be civilized and domesticated. Several abolitionists challenged the morals of these views and protested and petitioned the government to rectify this shameful existence of slavery in America. The breach between the North and the South grew larger still.

Furthermore, political rifts began to surface pertaining to the disagreement about slavery among Americans. Essentially, in the North, they gathered together against enslavement. In the early 1800s, the people who were against slavery, a mild and courteous group declared moralistic condemnation but took on a few obvious activities. One such organization of white abolitionists in 1817 was called American Colonization Society (ACS).

This group of Virginians worked to challenge slavery, but not to overstep the boundaries of personal property. Nevertheless, by 1830, the antislavery movement had begun to lose strength in America. Suddenly there emerged several key figures that helped to revive this cause. William Lloyd Garrison and Benjamin Lundy were just a few that expressed their repugnance for slavery. There were also many prevalent Black abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman that emerged during this time period to join the fight against slavery. Out from this enlarging antislavery movement dawned a fresh and influential appearance of abolitionism, which deserted mild improvement and declared firmly the instantaneous liberation of the slaves.

Moreover, during this era there was a lot of tension concerning slavery in the United States territories. In the so-called Wilmot Proviso, Rep. David Wilmot submitted an amendment to the approbation bill that would outlaw slavery in the newly procured land from Mexico. However, the bill didn’t pass and didn’t resurface until years later. Meanwhile, Southern radicals planned to make sure that slavery existed in the territories. President Polk supported a proposition to extend the Missouri Compromise line across to the Pacific.

After the election of President Zachary Taylor in 1848 and the California gold rush of 1849, the question about slavery in the West resurfaced. It resulted in the Compromise of 1850, which essentially admitted California as a free state and enforced a stricter, more effective fugitive slave law. Even though both parties ratified the Compromise of 1850, both sides felt a wary sense discontent. Throughout the 1850s, several recurring instances concerning slavery in American, in essence, enlarged the breach between the North and the South; such as the Kansas-Nebraska Crisis and Bleeding Kansas, the Pro-Slavery Argument, the election of President Lincoln, and John Brown’s raid.

But the case that set the standard for one of the most disputed controversies in the history of the U. S. Supreme Court was the Dred Scot Decision. This ruling deemed that [Black] slaves are indeed not citizens and only property, they do not have the right the court system, and can be taken anywhere their masters desire, whether on slave or free soil, and remain a slave regardless of the circumstances. To say the least the South was elated and very pleased with the outcome of the hearing. On the contrary, the North was outraged and bitterly criticized the decision.

Economically, the South mainly relied on mass cotton and tobacco production. Of course, the only obvious means, or so they imagined, supporting this system was mass slavery. During this prosperous agricultural growth, Southerners found fortune in slave trade. The frequent movement of slaves from state to state ultimately resulted in the development of the Southwest. Many times, slaveholders relocated and migrated to new cotton areas accompanied by their slaves.

Professional slave traders transported slaves over long distances in trains, by boats, or on foot in chain gangs. At a slave auctions, the slaves were sold like livestock, looking at their teeth, seeing how strong or healthy they were. Between the 1840 and 1860, healthy male slaves were sold varyingly from $500 to $1700, relying mostly on the wavering price of cotton. A sexually attractive female might be valued for much more. Although southern slave trade was crucial to the South’s prosperity, it had dire, degrading effects on everyone involved. It wrecked the Black family as a whole.

In summary, the differences between the North and the south were a consequence of differences of natural resources, differences in social system, differences in climate, and ultimately differences in morals. Overall, they were the outcome of the presence within the South an unliberated labor system that prevented the kind of social mobility that a commercializing society generally demands and that possessed a significant percentage of southern populace in enfeebling enslavement. In favor of concluding that slavery was one of the principle reasons the American Civil War occurred, the societal, governmental, and commercial characteristics of this unnatural establishment are analyzed.

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How the Emancipation of Proclamation Paved the Way for the Ending of Slavery in America

Whereas on the 22nd day of September, A.D. 1862. A proclamation was issued by the President of the United States. Containing, among other things. The following, to wit:”That on the 1st day of January, A.D. 1863. All persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State the people. Whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then. Thenceforward, and forever free; and the executive government of the United States. Including the military and naval authority thereof. Will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons. And will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.

“That the executive will on the 1st day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States. If any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States. And the fact that any State or the people thereof shall on that day be in good faith represented. In the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto. At elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such States shall have participated shall. In the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence. That such State and the people thereof are not then in rebellion against the United States.

“Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested. As Commander-In-Chief of the Army. And Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority. And government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for supressing said rebellion, do, on this 1st day of January, A.D.

1863, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days from the first day above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof, respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States the following, to wit: Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard, Palquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terrebone, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the city of New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Morthhampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Anne, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which excepted parts are for the present left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.

And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States are, and henceforward shall be, free; and that the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.

And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense; and I recommend to them that, in all case when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages. And I further declare and make known that such persons of suitable condition will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.

And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God.On Jan. 1, 1863, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln declared free all slaves residing in territory in rebellion against the federal government. This Emancipation Proclamation actually freed few people. It did not apply to slaves in border states fighting on the Union side; nor did it affect slaves in southern areas already under Union control.

Naturally, the states in rebellion did not act on Lincoln’s order. But the proclamation did show Americans– and the world– that the civil war was now being fought to end slavery. Lincoln had been reluctant to come to this position. A believer in white supremacy, he initially viewed the war only in terms of preserving the Union.

As pressure for abolition mounted in Congress and the country, however, Lincoln became more sympathetic to the idea. On Sept. 22, 1862, he issued a preliminary proclamation announcing that emancipation would become effective on Jan. 1, 1863, in those states still in rebellion. Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery in America–this was achieved by the passage of the 13TH Amendment to the Constitution on Dec. 18, 1865–it did make that accomplishment a basic war goal and a virtual certainty.

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A History of the Civil War and the Elimination of Slavery in America

Rhys Arnott The American Civil War is one of the most significant and controversial periods in American history. The Civil War was caused by mounting conflicting pressures, principles, and prejudices, fueled by differences and pride, and set into motion by unlikely set of political events. At the root of all of the problems was the establishment of slavery, which had been introduced into North America in early colonial times.

The American Revolution had been fought to confirm the idea that all men were created equal, yet slavery was legal in all of the thirteen colonies throughout the revolutionary period. Although it was largely gone from the northern states by 1787, it was still enshrined in the new Constitution of the United States, not only at the request of the Southern ones, but also with the approval of many of the Northern delegates who saw that there was still much money to be made in the slave trade by the Yankee shipping industry. Eventually its existence came to influence every aspect of American life.

It seemed to Thomas Jefferson and many others that slavery was on its way out, doomed to die a natural death. It was becoming increasingly expensive to keep slaves in the south. Northern and Southern members of Congress voted together to abolish the importation of slaves from overseas in 1808, but the domestic slave trade continued to flourish. The invention of the cotton gin made the cultivation of cotton on large plantations using slave labor a profitable project in the deep South.

The slave became an ever more important element of the southern economy, and so the debate about slavery, for the southemer, gradually evolved into an economically based question of money and power. It became an institution that southerners felt bound to protect. But even as the need to protect it grew, the ability to do this from the South’s perspective was diminishing. Southern leaders grew progressively more sensitive to this condition. In 1800 half of the population of the United States had lived in the South. But by 1850 only a third lived there and the gap continued to widen. Even though slave states were added to the Union to balance the number of free ones, the South found that its representatives in the House had been overwhelmed by the North’s explosive growth.

More and more emphasis was now placed on maintaining equality in the Senate. Failing this meant that the South would find itself at the mercy of a government, in which it no longer had an effective voice in. Of course there was protest in the North for the abolition of the slavery on purely moral grounds. Abolitionist leader William Lloyd Garrison, holding up a copy of the Federal Constitution before a crowd in Massachusetts called it a covenant with death, and an agreement with hell.

The abolitionists believed not only that slavery was wrong, but that the Federal government should move to abolish it. Although they were always a small minority they were very vocal about their beliefs, and projected themselves into the minds of southerners as a threat out of all proportion to their actual power and influence.

This threat was greatly exaggerated in 1859 by John Brown’s seizure of the Harper’s Ferry arsenal and his call for a general rebellion of the slaves. This caused many of the Southern states to implement plans for more effective militias for internal defense. While some in the North hated slavery because they felt that it was wrong, most people held no opinion of it at all, and some even condoned it because abolishing it would be bad for business. Without slaves there would be no cotton.

Without cotton the fabric industry would suffer. To many it was just that simple. Soon after this a new Republican Party injected its nominee, Abraham Lincoln. He was convinced that the Constitution forbade the Federal government from taking action against slavery where it already existed, but was determined to keep it from spreading further. South Carolina, in a fit of stubborn pride, announced that it would secede from the Union if Lincoln were elected. To everyone amazement Lincoln was victorious. He had gathered a mere 40% of the popular vote, and carried not a single slave state. South Carolina, true to its word, seceded on December 20, 1860. Mississippi left on January 9, 1861, and Florida on the 10th.

Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas followed.Lincolnâ€TMs inaugural address was at once firm and peace-making. Unwilling to strike the initial blow to compel the southern states back into the Union, he decided to bide his time. When a Federal ship carrying supplies was dispatched to reposition Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, the secessionist hand was forced.

To forestall the re-supply of the fort the Rebel batteries ringing it opened fire at 4:30 a.m. on the 12th of April, 1861, forcing its rapid admission of defeat President Lincoln immediately called upon the states to supply 75,000 troops to serve for ninety days against combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings. Virginia, Arkansas, and Tennessee promptly seceded. The war was on and there was no turning back. Ironically, the combination of political events, southern pride, and determination succeeded in paving the way to the elimination of slavery.

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The Issue of Slavery in America

Between 1850 and 1865 slavery was a big issue in America. But Abraham Lincoln changed the country with the Emancipation Proclamation in. Which he granted all slaves within the confederacys control freedom. During the civil war the slaves had a huge impact on the Northern victory. But the Southern view of the proclamation was not as much of a celebration but more of a riot. Because not all slaves were set free, the South still had slaves, but the slaves who were set free moved North and many joined the fight against the South, this being a major reason for the Souths defeat. The Emancipation Proclamation was a huge relief for slaves in the South, and people in the North, but for the people in the South, things were not as well, especially during the civil war.

As slavery was starting to become a problem in America, Abraham Lincoln came up with the idea of Emancipation of all slaves within the confederacys control. The proclamation was officially established on January 1st 1863, and it stated that all slaves were to be set free from then on (Doc D). Abraham Lincoln stated that every man no matter what color they might be should have the same rights as any other citizen of the United States (Doc E). Slavery, though, was not completely abolished until 1865 when the 13th Amendment was established. Many of the slaves that were set free navigated to the North and joined the fight against the South in the civil war. With so many slaves joining the fight, the South was outnumbered and would soon be defeated by not only the Northern states, but also by the slaves who were taken away from them with the proclamation put in place.

The South had a hard time adjusting to the fact that they were losing everything they had been so used to having since the establishment of Southern states but things were not looking good for the South and their labor units, and things were looking even worse for their defense units. Since slavery had been going on since in the U.S. since discovery, it was a very hard process for the country to go through, but the South was at a huge loss because of all the labor loss. Even before the proclamation not many people owned more than ten slaves while more than half the Southern population owned little to no slaves, but for the farmers and middle class families it was a huge hindrance in their normal lives (Doc F).

Many middle class families in the South treated their slaves well, while some did not. Some slaves got fresh food and clothing and had no problem with their owners and their rules, but along with good there is also evil, as some owners would beat their slaves, starve them, and make them wear rags for clothing. To the slaves, Abraham Lincoln was a savior, or to others he was best known as, The Great Emancipator. Abraham Lincoln made it clear to the country that he wanted slavery abolished with many speeches and debates (Doc B), but the 13th Amendment was not established until December of 1865, after Abraham Lincolns assassination in April of the same year. Because most farmers used slave labor as a way of keeping their farms and crops going, it was very hard for them to keep up with all of the work that needed to be done, and for middle class families it was the change more than the hindrance that was hard to cope with.

Even though the South lost the war and they no longer had slave labor to care for their farms and crops, they got past the defeat and the loss of slavery and they started all over with a new way of living. Slavery was completely abolished with the 13th Amendment and the North along with their victory had new citizens within the region. The Emancipation Proclamation influenced the civil war after the freed slaves joined the Northern side of the war, giving the North a bigger advantage against the South.

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The Transatlantic Slave Trade That Played a Major Role in the History of Slavery in America

A slave is a person who is the property of and wholly subject to another. Slavery can be defined as the condition of a slave; the keeping of slaves as a practice or institution; a state of subjection. Racism can be defined as a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, involving the idea that one’s own race is superior. These terms play major roles in the history of the United States.

Slavery played a central role in the history of the United States. It existed in all the English mainland colonies and came to dominate agricultural production in the states from Maryland south. Eight of the first 12 presidents of the United States were slaveowners. Debate over slavery increasingly dominated American politics, leading eventually to the American Civil War, which finally brought slavery to an end.

The first African slaves in North America landed in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. Brought by early English privateers, they were subjected to limited servitude, a legalized status of Native American, white, and black servants preceding slavery in most, if not all, the English colonies in the New World.

Racism comes into effect when one asks themselves why Africans? English had guns and power while African did not. African were different and thus were thought to be inferior, racially set apart, outsiders, aliens, and strangers in many ways throughout the world. A major factor of why English enslaved Africans was their religion. Africans had their own religions passed on from generation to generation, which was not Christianity. Basically, English enslaved non-Christians. A slave could become free by converting to Christianity. Between 1650-1750 American slavery began to change from Indians to Africans and eventually led to the extinction of Indians in slavery.

The transatlantic Slave Trade played a major role in the history of slavery in America. It forced transportation of at least ten million Africans to destinations in Europe and America during the 15th through 19th centuries. Africans were taken from their homes, herded onto ships where they were sometimes so tightly packed that they could barely move, and sent to a strange new land. When traded, the slaves were examined from head to toe. Most ended up on plantations growing crops and tobacco. Africa lost much of its population.

An extensive body of law developed from the 1660’s to the 1860’s governed slavery in the United States. Every slave state had its own slave code and body of court decisions. Slavery was a permanent condition, inherited through the mother, and defined slaves as property, usually in the same terms as those applied to real estate. Slaves, being property, could not own property or be a party to a contract. Since marriage is a form of a contract, no slave marriage had any legal standing. All codes also had sections regulating free blacks, who were still subject to controls on their movements and employment and were often required to leave the state after emancipation.

American slavery was set apart from other societies of slavery due to its racial basis. In America, with only a few early and insignificant exceptions, all slaves were Africans, and vice versa. This pointed Africans out to be aliens and inferior to all others. In other societies, it had been possible for a slave who obtained his freedom to take his place in his society with relative ease. In America however, when a slave became free, he was still obviously an African. The taint of inferiority clung to him. Not only did white America become convinced of white superiority and black inferiority, but it strove to impose these racial beliefs on the Africans themselves.

Slave masters gave a great deal of attention to the education and training of the ideal slave. There were five steps in molding the character of a slave: strict discipline, a sense of his own inferiority, belief in the master’s supremacy, acceptance of the master’s standards, and finally a deep sense of his own helplessness and dependence. Besides teaching a slave to despise his own history and culture, the master strove to inculcate his own value system into the African’s outlook. The white man’s belief in the African’s inferiority paralleled African self-hate.

  • 1641 Massachusetts legalized slavery.
  • 1662 Virginia passes a law stating Africans would remain Servants for life.
  • 1663 Maryland passes law stipulating that all imported blacks are to be given the status of slaves.

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A Discussion on Slavery in America

Slavery Everyone knows a little about slavery, but do they know that Indians were slavers as well as Africans? Slavery had a huge impact on the world for many reasons. What if the people in America at this time had found another way or something other than slavery? Also what would have happened if slavery never existed? I feel that America would not have survived without slavery. Without slavery the world would not have been the way it is today, it would be a lot different.

The three reasons I feel that America would have not have survived without slavery are because of the following: the early settlers had no idea how to harvest enough foods, that there would not have been enough manpower to win the Revolutionary War, and lastly the culture that we have today would not be the same and as unique without slavery. Settlers came to the New World because they wanted to get out of Europe. People also thought that the New World was going to be this great and wonderful place because of all the booster literature. Booster literature was pamphlets or posters about the New World, but they told lies and made the place look a lot better than it really was.

The people that came were mostly serfs and lower class people who had to sell everything they owned just to pay for the boat trip to the New World. However some people still did not have enough money to get there, so they went to the New World as indentured servants. Indentured servants were pretty much slaves because they worked on someone land for a couple of years in till they worked enough to pay for there voyage to the New World. The southern states needed these slaves because the southern states had more farms and plantations than the North did. Not everyone could afford slaves; slaves were really expensive.

They were expensive to buy because they had to be feed and taken care of. Some Indians were taken as slaves because they were captured from their tribe. These Indians were used for harvesting food among other things. These Indians were great farmers because they had been doing it their entire life. Without the Indians and other slaves the setters in no way possible could have harvest enough food for everyone.

The settlers put the slaves into the fields to do all of the work. Think about it this way, in today world it takes a two-hundred-thousand dollar machine to do what the slaves had to do. In the South there were 3,953,760 slaves in 1860 (Funk & Wagnalls). The Caribbean and Brazilian sugar plantations required a consistently high supply of labor for centuries (Funk & Wagnalls). Europeans needed more laborers than they could recruit from among their own metropolitan masses (Funk & Wagnalls).

This proves that the setters could not survive without slavery. How did America become America? Well America had to fight a war to brake away from Great Britain. By 1921 the British Empire held sway over a population of about 470-570 million people, which was roughly a quarter of the world’s population (Wikipedia). This war was the Revolutionary War or some people call it America’s war for independence, and without the help from the slaves America might have lost this war.

America was a small little nothing compared to Great Britain. The people in America had no way of beating the most powerful country in the world at this time. How was the America going to be able to defect this country? The army of the Americas or the rebels was and were the number slaves fighting in this war. If the slaves were not apart of the North and more importantly apart of the South they army would have only been..smaller. Great Britain tried to get slaves to come for their side because they knew that having slaves on their side would help. Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of Virginia, issued an emancipation proclamation in November 1775, promising freedom to runaway slaves who fought for the British (Wikipedia).

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An Essay on Benjamin Bannecker’s Passion for the Abolishment of Slavery in America

Slavery has always been one of the most controversial subjects in United States history. Inflicting pain and suffering on thousands of African Americans. Throughout the 18th century, though many people accepted the concept of slavery, others strongly opposed it. Benjamin Bannecker was a very successful man who was proficient in sciences, writing and farming. He was also the son of former slaves and strongly opposed everything slavery stood for. Bannecker’s passion for the abolishing of slavery was so powerful. That he wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson, secretary of state to President George Washington. In his letter to Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Bannecker tries to persuade him to abolish slavery from the United States by using logos, ethos, antithesis and various references to the past.

The appeals to logos and ethos are abundant in Benjamin Bannecker’s letter. First, both logos and ethos are present when he is quoting a direct line from the Declaration of Independence, “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.”(Line 21) He establishes his ethos by proving his knowledge of United States history and gives himself more credibility by showing his extensive knowledge of the ideas vested within the Declaration of Independence.

Benjamin is an incredibly knowledgeable person compared to other African Americans during this time period. This also enhances his ethos by displaying his familiarity with the Declaration of Independence and the contradictory statements it entails. Benjamin wants Thomas Jefferson to realize that to have a prosperous “free” country, then everyone must be free, outlined in the Declaration of Independence. Benjamin uses logic to argue the pending freedom of his fellow brethren. Slaves were not treated equally to everybody else, but rather, treated significantly worse.

Benjamin believes that it is logical for slaves to be freemen because they are in fact men, and the Declaration of Independence clearly states, “All men are created equal.” Benjamin also exhibits ethos by referring to other African Americans as his brethren. (Line 38) By referring to them as his brethren, Benjamin is showing sympathy for other African Americans. Since Benjamin is black, he understands more than anyone else can what it is like to be so hated in the world, and he cannot stand to see his people being so mistreated anymore. Ethos and logos are strong rhetorical devices that are clearly evident within his letter.

Bannecker also uses antithesis and references to the past to further get his point across about the monstrosities of slavery. Antithesis is distinctly seen in the line, “… although you were so fully convinced of the benevolence of the Father of mankind and of his equal and impartial distribution of those rights and privileges which he had conferred upon them, that you should at the same time counteract his mercies in detaining by fraud and violence so numerous a part of my brethren under groaning captivity and cruel oppression…” (Line 31) Benjamin mentions that Jefferson is the “Father of mankind” because simply he is the father of the Declaration of Independence. Bannecker is trying to point out that Jefferson, the “Father,” is a fraud, and that he is no better than the king of England’s tyranny.

If Jefferson truly is the “Father of mankind and of his equal and impartial distribution of those rights and privileges” then he would have fought for the abolition of slavery long ago. The Declaration of Independence is a very ironic document that blatantly lies about the topic of free men, which Benjamin cleverly points out. Bennecker includes the sentence, “Sir, I suppose that your knowledge of the situation of my brethren is too extensive to need a recital here…” to remind Jefferson that his fellow colonists were once slaves under the watchful eye of Great Britain.

Benjamin even clearly points out, “Tyranny of the British Crown were exerted with every powerful effort in order to reduce you to a State of Servitude” to further exemplify his point. (Line 1) The purposes of these references to the past are to make Jefferson feel ashamed for his actions. He is inflicting the same pain and suffering that Great Britain inflicted on them not long ago. What the colonists are doing to slaves is a direct is to violation of the Declaration of Independence that Jefferson wrote. Bennecker included these rhetorical strategies to further persuade his argument on the abolishment of slavery.

In an order to persuade Thomas Jefferson to reconsider his current views on slavery, Benjamin Bannecker uses the rhetorical strategies of ethos, logos, antithesis and a mocking tone. These rhetorical devices were flawlessly included into his extremely persuasive and impressive letter. The ideas demonstrated in this letter undermine the foundations of the Declaration of Independence, which is significant in this time period. Whether this letter did or did not urge Thomas Jefferson to reevaluate his perspective on slavery, it still is an immense example of how rhetorical strategies added to writing can be eloquent, informative and robust.

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