Men Of Color To Arms Rhetorical Analysis

In the first two years of the Civil War the freedom for slaves, and increased participation amongst the blacks became a necessity. On January 1, 1863 when President Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation got signed, more than three million slaves were freed. After a couple years into the Civil war the North was in desperate need of some troops. This gave the recently freed slaves as non-American citizens interest to fight for the Union. One of the people responsible for the advancement of race equality and the main source of recruitment to the Union is Frederick Douglas. Frederick Douglas delivered a speech titled “Men of Color, To Arms” which strongly urged African Americans to join the war to finally coincide with the proclamation and get there

Douglass spoke in support that if African American’s join to defeat the confederacy, they would be treated equal and slavery would be no more. Fredrick Douglass knew Aristotle’s Rhetoric well and, specifically, deliberative rhetoric which he applied (the three rhetorical appeals—ethos, pathos and logos) in not only writing about his own Life (The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave) but his speech as well. He employs these rhetorical devices in his 1863 speech, “Men of Color, To Arms.” The goal of deliberative writing is to persuade your audience of the truth you say and more importantly, of the benefit of your truth. Douglass empowers the people in his speech by directly noting that the advancement of racial equality will only benefit from us going to war. The use of Rhetoric was very beneficial to Douglass speech. Frederick Douglass employed them this way in “Men of Color, To Arms.” First, the use of pathos. Douglass shows the success that can come out of this and he reads to the states that he is succeeded. This gives the audience motivation to overcome the power that others had on them. The emotional aspects of the speech concurred with a ton of