Wendell Phillips Rhetorical Devices In The 1861 Speech

In the 1861 speech by Wendell Phillips, he describes the Haitian general Toussaint Louverture, as a hero and a martyr. Phillips is giving the speech to a group of Abolotionists who very clearly support Phillips and Louverture. In his speech, he uses rhetorical devices such as the repitition of historical allusions and parallel sentence structure to emphasize his thoughts on Louverture.

In the first line of the speech, Phillips references Napoleon and goes on to mention people thought to be American heroes such as Oliver Cromwell and George Washington. His speech speaks very highly of them, and towards the end of the first paragraph he introduces Louverture as one belonging to their category. Phillips says, towards the end of his speech “I

would call him Cromwell, but Cromwell was only a soldier, and the state he founded went down with him into his grave. I would call him Washington, but great Virginian held slaves” here not only does he demonstrate that his audience is educated, using specific historical references to demonstrate the moral failures of these men. The last line of the speech is Phillips saying that above all those people, Louverture will go down in history as one of the better historical models for a hero. He also says “Toussaint forged a thunderbolt” and continues to make sophisticated references to ancient Greece, he demonstrates with his diction that Louverture is actually worthy of being compared to a God, Zeus. He praises these historical figures very highly, but repeatadly brings it back to Louverture being a morally superior being. He goes out of his way to emphasize their greatness in the first paragraph, but reveals in the second how really only Toussaint has been worthy of the attention the other men recieve. He calls references Washington being a statesman, and tells us that Cromwell was a soldier but gives Toussaint both titles with the edition of martyr.

Wendell Phillips also uses parallel sentence structure throughout the entire piece, mainly to emphasize the heroicness of Louverture while comparing him to great figures of history. He says towards the middle of the speech “Toussaint forged a thunderbolt and hurled it at what? The proudest blood in Europe, the Spaniard, and sent him home conquered, at the most warlike blood in Europe, the French and put them under his feet ; at the pluckiest blood in Europe, the English, and the skulked home to Jamacia” His language suggests although these countries have mighty qualities, they aren’t particularly sophisticated, and although these countries considered Louverture unsophistacted, possibly even savage he defeated them. Similarly to the way he speaks about historical figures, he calls them out on not being as great as everyone thinks.

He talks about reading history with not your eyes but your prejduices, and earlier in the speech mentions that Louverture had left hardly one written thing. This is a response to a wealhty view of the world, they do not realize the struggles going on elsewhere. “All the materials for his biography are from the mouths of his enemies” and although he is speaking to an educated audience, he is speaking on the truth of realizing how it actually happened and not being blind because of prejudice like the Spanish, French and British. The Europeans despised him as a negro, and a slave because he had beaten them in battle. Phillips puts the Europeans on the opposite side of the battle than the Americans, failing to mention Louvertures nationality and the fact America has contributed greatly to the slave trade. He mentions Washington holding slaves, but only to emphasize the greatness of Louverture.

Phillips uses these rhetorical devices such as diction, allusion and parallel sentecnce structure to persuade and show the audience what kind of actions make a great man and how Louverture went above and beyond the requirements which is why he should be remembered at the top of the list of historical figured who have made an important change.