Rhetorical Analysis Of Benjamin Banneker's Letter To Thomas Jefferson

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In writing this letter to Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Banneker, clearly and precisely uses numerous rhetorical strategies to establish his point that the immoral, unlawful and horrid institution of slavery should be abolished in the thirteen colonies of America. Centered on the argument against slavery Benjamin Banneker uses a passive-aggressive, informal, and specific tone throughout the entire letter. His belief that if he can sway Jefferson first, and then the government of the abomination that is slavery, then there is a chance that it may finally be terminated in America. To do this and to truly persuade Jefferson, Banneker demonstrates an immense amount of rhetorical strategies such as analogy, comparison and contrast, hyperbole, allusion, …show more content…

By commencing every paragraph with “Sir,” or “Here, sir,” or “This sir” Banneker uses repetition. He does this to persuade Jefferson that he is indeed a person of importance and over and over again he is kind to him and demonstrates the proper manner that Jefferson ought to be written to in. As a result of appealing to Jefferson by using the simple recurrence of one word: sir; Banneker’s letter will most likely actually be read and thought about rather than read and ignored, or even ditched due to someone who doesn’t write with respect. After his sir introduction to every paragraph, Banneker immediately proceeds to get right to the point. This will be his tone during the course of this letter. Banneker seems to be very kind but he is drilling Jefferson and accusing him of the same things he indicted Great Britain of. Banneker scolds Jefferson saying: “You clearly saw into the injustice of a state of slavery” then, but now you do the same thing King George and England did to us. Banneker inserts yet another rhetorical device to push his argument against slavery----this time it is an analogy between England against the colonies and the new government against them. He continues to even go as extreme as to quote Jefferson from the Declaration in saying that “all men are created equal” and “endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights” to drive even harder the fact that he believes Jefferson and the government is hypocritical and that slavery needs eradicated from

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