On August 28th of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. gave one of the most famous speeches of all time. “I Have a Dream”. The speech was heard by thousands upon thousands of people in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. This speech addressed many things, one of which was the severe racial injustices against African American citizens at the peak of the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. King conveyed his message of social justice and equality with an essence of poise and eloquent detail. King was very good at connecting with the American people and convincing them to join the fight against the racial inequality and discrimination. This speech was so persuasive because King effectively used rhetorical methods throughout his speech. From what I took from this speech, King was able to utilize every rhetorical method including pathos, logos, and ethos. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech, “I Have a Dream”, uses the emphasis of pathos throughout the duration of his speech. For example, he states …show more content…
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed. We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal” (King 2) His argument is logical absolutely true to be one of the founding principles of the country, which was that all people are created equal and given equal opportunity. At this time the government wasn’t holding itself true to that standard. The claim in the “I have a Dream” speech was that all men were created equal and the support to this claim was the statement that presented itself in the Declaration of Independence. “ This will be the day when all God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning. My country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my father’s died, land of the pilgrims’ pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.” (King