What would you do if you had the chance and power to change the unions government forever? Benjamin Franklin took advantage of this option in his “Speech in the Convention”. In this speech, Franklin used rhetorical devices such as pathos, analogies, and ethos to convince the delegates to compromise with this constitution for their government.
Benjamin Franklin’s ethics helped convey to the audience that they were not just listening to another representative's opinion in the room. His “diplomatic skills”(43) in this speech helped make the delegates listen and take his view into consideration. Such a reputation can make people ponder and contemplate his words and meanings. Franklin does not approach the debate with unfair reasoning or a lack of knowledge. In fact, he mentions “when you assemble a number of men...you inevitably assemble with those men and all their prejudices...”(43) showing that he is aware of other people’s opinions and thoughts. He uses the other delegates opinions to attempt a compromise.
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In such a heated debate, the delegates would try any tactic to get their point across to each other.
Benjamin Franklin uses analogies as an attempt to get the delegates attention. As Franklin begins to compare “most men” to “most sects in religion”, he states that people will never say they are in the wrong with their opinion. He believes that men relate to religions because most religions believe that only their religion is right, just like the delegates opinions. He also uses rhetorical devices to inform the secrecy of this meeting. “Within these walls they were born, and here they shall die”(44), Franklin states, wanting to make sure of the confidentiality. Using this device shows the importance of this meeting being
classified. The most impacting way Benjamin Franklin could convince these delegates is through the rhetorical device pathos. The use of emotion can change the course of someone's decision dramatically. When Franklin says “much of the strength and efficiency of any government, in procuring and securing happiness to the people, depends on...the general goodness of that government..”(44), he is making the delegates feel a sense of comfort in knowing that they are trying to build this government off the happiness of its people. He also tries to portray a sense of being desperate when saying “i hope, therefore, for our own sakes, as a part of the people, and for the sake of our posterity, that we shall act heartily and unanimously in recommending this constitution”(44). This showing of desperation makes the audience sympathize with Franklin. These rhetorical devices helped Benjamin Franklin convince the delegates into ratifying the constitution. Ethos, pathos, and analogies persuaded the audience with emotions, ethics, and comparisons to prove his points and opinions. Rhetorical devices are much more powerful than what it's deemed to be.
Sheila Kemp did an outstanding job in her short history of one of America’s most treasured -- arguably the most looked up to -- political heroes. Whether the Cockpit had as astounding an effect on Franklin’s political career, and the defining moment that pushed him on the path as an advocate for independence is up for argument. Did Kemp adequately protect her position: that Benjamin Franklin became a revolutionary after his incident at the Cockpit? The questions seem to be answerable morally, as well as historically. In truth, Kemp defended her position with as much armor as she could smith whilst writing her definingly short biography, but sometimes lost her argument in midst of a flood of historical information. Thus, in this review the writer seeks to find the ‘do’s and don'ts’ that Sheila Kemp wrote on the path of drawing her conclusion, and thus he seeks his own conclusion as to whether the cockpit truly represented Franklin’s most defining political moment of change.
Gordon S. Wood delves into Benjamin Franklin’s philosophical, political, and personal legacies in the biography, The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin. The book travels through Franklin’s experiments, his travels in Europe, and his role in the American revolution. The book begins when Franklin retires from business and becomes a gentleman. It was when he became a gentleman, it allowed him to analyze the world around him. “Indeed, he could not drink a cup of tea without wondering why the tea leaves at the bottom gathered in way rather than another,” a quote from Edmund S. Morgan’s book, Benjamin Franklin. Franklin spent a great deal of time in Britain before returning to America. When he returned, he threw himself into the American revolution, which sent him to France. After he accomplished his duties in France, he returned back home to America where he ran for public office.
Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers to the United States, was not a patriot but a mere loyalist to England before the dissolution between England and the colonies occurred. Sheila L. Skemp's The Making of a Patriot explores how Benjamin Franklin tried to stay loyal to the crown while taking interest in the colonies perception and their own representation in Parliament. While Ms. Skemp alludes to Franklin's loyalty, her main illustration is how the attack by Alexander Wedderburn during the Privy Council led to Franklin's disillusionment with the British crown and the greater interest in making the Thirteen Colonies their own nation. Her analysis of Franklin's history in Parliament and what occurred on the night that the council convened proves the change behind Franklin's beliefs and what lead to his involvement in the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution.
Hamilton uses fears of past despotism in monarchies and encroachments in representative bodies to persuade people to see that this essential law of good behavior “is the best expedient which can be devised in any government to secure a steady, upright, and impartial administration of the laws.” (Hamilton.Jay.Madison 100)
Lincoln's style in this speech was inevitably persuasive. His rhetorical strategy appeals to not only the readers senses, but to their intellectual knowledge as w...
In conclusion, we can assert that the paths to aristocracy of the two leaders as we have seen were an uphill task. These paths are in one way or another similar with Franklin pioneering and Douglas following after his steps. It is also evident that Douglas through his actions fighting against slavery came to be regarded as a representative man. This owes to the fact that he not only represented slaves in America but in the entire world. The lives of Fredrick Douglas and Benjamin Franklin are indeed worth examining.
Franklin was remembered for stating "the longer I live, the more convincing proof I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men." Franklin 's ideas that contributed to the Enlightenment is found in his Autobiography. His idea of a perfect person has 13 virtues and claims that a practical and scientific man is based on combining their values and economic values. Franklin preferred voluntarily societies over government control, all his thoughts can lead back to free opinion. In his, Almanac is reflected on his scientific interests and was popular within the
Raphael, Ray. "Let's make a deal: there would have been no Constitution without compromise, but politics trumped principles in surprising--and unsettling--ways when it came to slavery." Academic OneFile (2013): 50. Web. 1 May 2014. .
Four and a half months after the Union defeated the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863. He gave the Union soldiers a new perspective on the war and a reason to fight in the Civil War. Before the address, the Civil War was based on states’ rights. Lincoln’s speech has the essence of America and the ideals that were instilled in the Declaration of Independence by the Founders. The sixteenth president of the United States was capable of using his speech to turn a war on states’ rights to a war on slavery and upholding the principles that America was founded upon. By turning the Civil War into a war about slavery he effortlessly ensured that no foreign country would recognize the South as an independent nation, ensuring Union success in the war. In his speech, Lincoln used the rhetorical devices of juxtaposition, repetition, and parallelism, to touch the hearts of its listeners.
... idea that people should begin to think more logically. In Benjamin Franklin’s essay, “Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America,” Franklin uses the literary device, satire, in attempt to make a political change. He satirically writes, “Savages we call them, because their manners differ from ours, which we think the perfection of civility; they think the same of theirs”(1). Franklin points out that people will look at different cultures and call it something like “savage’ when those “savages” are looking at them saying the same thing. Franklin attempts to help people recognize the foolishness of the American’s attitude regarding the Native Americans.
In The Autobiography, Benjamin Franklin recounts the many paramount experiences throughout his life that shaped him into great American figure he was known to be. On the opening page, Franklin reveals the book’s epistolary format by writing, “Dear Son,” going on to admit that he’s made some mistakes in the past and to recollect that past is a way to relive it. By divulging his desire to “change some sinister Accidents & Events” (Franklin 3) the author indicates how important it is for his son to observe as he amends his mistakes. Pride, virtue and vanity play a pivotal role in Benjamin Franklin’s life and the way he portrays himself to others. Instances occur where the author is shown gloating about his great accomplishments and he puts emphasis on his need to live a virtuous and morally perfect life. Throughout his story, Benjamin Franklin tells his son of his many virtuous acts and momentous achievements, motivating the question as to whether he seeks his own approval more so than the approval of his peers.
Now we will look at the religious views of both Franklin and Edwards. Franklin thought spirituality was not a concern. He thought man was the center of life, not God. He thought man was basically good and prudence, hard work, and frugality was what made man good, not God’s gr...
Benjamin Franklin stands tall among a small group of men we call our Founding Fathers. Ben used his diplomacy skills to serve his fellow countrymen. His role in the American Revolution was not played out on the battlefields, but rather in the halls and staterooms of governments. His clear vision of the way things should be, and his skill in both writing and negotiating, helped him to shape the future of the United States of America. His most important service was as a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Although it was not accepted, he is reported to have been the author of the single legislative Assembly, instead of two branches. Other statesmen have considered bicameral assembly preferable, and which have since been adopted in all the States of the Union, as, well as in other countries where the experiment of popular forms has been tried. There is no doubt that this was a favorite theory with him, because he explained and gave his reasons for it on another occasion. The perpetual conflict between the two branches under the proprietary government of Pennsylvania, in which the best laws after having been passed by the Representatives of the people were constantly defeated by the veto of the Governor and Council, seems to have produced a strong impression on his mind. He also referred to the British Parliament as a proof that the voice of the people expressed by their representatives is often silenced by an order of men in the legislature, who have interests to s...
Benjamin Franklin was a very prominent figure in shaping our nation. Many people look at him as a role model or just as an amazing individual. He had his faults just like every human being had, and he shouldn’t be discredited because of a few minor glitches to his character. As being the only person that had signed The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, and the Treaty of Paris, this immediately separates him from all others. One of the things that he wrote about in Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography and Other Writings, was trying to be the ideal person, and even made a list of virtues to live by. His virtues were very important to his lifestyle, and he followed them to a great extent.
Why did people trust what he had to say, because he was the Einstein of the late 1700’s. He owned Pennsylvania Gazette, one of the most popular papers at the time. He was also one of the most respected people in the colonies and a great scientist at the time. Benjamin Franklin wasn’t born into the high class society, his father was a candle maker, but he earned his way to the top with hard work. He helped the US gain “independence and was one of the writers of the Declaration of Independence,” (David page 1). So the question is not why would someone listen to Benjamin Franklin, it is who would not listen to