A Rhetorical Analysis Of Benjamin Banneker And Thomas Jefferson

Benjamin Banneker, being a black man and a son of former slaves, did not have much leverage over white male politician Thomas Jefferson. In order to appeal to him, Banneker used parallelism, repetition, and evidence from credible sources to try to persuade Jefferson to change the policy of slavery at the time.

Banneker’s use of parallelism provides connections between white and black men in order to draw sympathy from Jefferson. In the second paragraph, he used parallel structure to illustrate how Jefferson's opinions on slavery have changed throughout the years. Not only is Banneker relating the two events, he is also reminding Jefferson of slavery, suggesting he can draw a similar parallel later. Banneker also uses antithesis in the third paragraph, he goes on about Jefferson's "tender feelings," talking up the politician using positive diction. This is in order to build

An instance of this is in the second paragraph where Banneker references the Constitution where it says "all men are created equal, and they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.” He knows that Jefferson will have a hard time challenging the Constitution that he wrote himself, thus making this rhetorical strategy one of his most important to persuade him. Banneker also draws up memories of the recent American, connecting the role that the British held over the Colonies to the role that the white men held over the slaves. This allows Jefferson to identify and relate to the injustice that Banneker feels is held over the slaves. Finally, in the last paragraph, Banneker quotes Job from the Bible where he says “put your souls in their soul's stead.” Banneker knows that if Jefferson is going to challenge his country, he won’t challenge his religion or morals. This tests Jefferson’s own morals because he doesn’t want to contradict his own faith, making him more inclined to agree with