Frederick Douglass Speech Rhetorical Analysis

Fredrick Douglass deliver a very empowering and emotional speech on July 4, 1852.The speech took place in Rochester, New York. The crowed compose of mostly whites and slave holders. The key concept Fredrick Douglass want to inform reader is that slaves are consider men, thus they are entitled to the rights that are promise in the Declaration of Independence. The author successfully got his point across by using Socratic reasoning and syllogism. According to Oxford University, syllogism is a form of logical reasoning that joins two or more premises to arrive at a conclusion. Throughout the speech Douglass was able to expose the slave holders as hypocrite. During the 1800s Many slave holders and Slave plantation owner were majority Christian. Slave owner justify that slavery was morally right by stating that the bible says it is ok to own slaves. There were many verses that backup these claims in the bible. These verse include “Ephesians 6:4-6: Fathers, do not exasperate your …show more content…
There are seventy-two crimes in the State of Virginia, which, if committed by a black man (no matter how ignorant he be), subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of these same crimes will subject a white man to like punishment. The author stated that we have laws to punish men and slaves from doings certain things. We all know that laws only apply to human being. For instance, you can’t punish and put a seal in jail for stealing, it is only implement on men. Therefore, the audience most likely conclude a slave is a man. Another perspective Fredrick Douglass stated was “It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute books are covered with enactments, forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read and write” (Douglass p.3). This informs the reader and the audience that a slave must be a man because only men can read. It is impossible teach an animal how to read and