Preview

Benjamin Banneker Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
266 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Benjamin Banneker Analysis
The unjustified maltreatment of the African American race between the years 1776 and 1850 served as a dividing line between an individual’s ability to obtain freedom and equal opportunity. African American men were stripped of the rights granted by Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence, which states that “all men are created equal” and are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The concept of owning African Americans, as slaves, contradicts the ideology present in the Declaration, in addition to the moral of slave owners. Benjamin Banneker, a free African American discussed the concepts of race and rights, in his letter addressed to Thomas Jefferson, the Secretary of State. Banneker explains that many of his ‘brethren’ were

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the Declaration of Independence Jefferson states that all men are created equal. This is meant as it reads, that all men, no matter the race have equal rights. This was a revolutionary concept that was not accepted fully for a long time. Jefferson really was a noble man who supposedly respected all races, he even a relationship with one of his slaves. Another thing meant by all men are created equal is that it was really meant as all mankind, trying to include women into the mix of people with equal rights.…

    • 303 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In his letter to Thomas Jefferson in 1791, Benjamin Banneker uses emotional, logical, and ethical appeal with multiple literary devices to argue against on the issues of slavery.…

    • 211 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Benjamin Banneker is a very passionate man when it comes to racial issues. In fact, he, himself was the son of a slave, which would indicate that he was a man who has experienced racial complications. Banneker (once educated), decided to become an advocate for racial freedom and equality. Mr. Banneker wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson in hopes of persuading him to rethink the government’s position on slavery. In the letter Banneker uses allusions, repetition, religious diction, and pathos in his writing in hopes to evoke a change in the hypocrisy the colonists’ government has proven to be.…

    • 334 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Souls of Black Folks

    • 511 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Africans Americans faced many problems after being set free after the Emancipation Proclamation. They were freed men according to the law, but were they really free? They still faced the same racism and prosecution that they had before when they were slaves. They were still treated badly by the white man, as a second class. A black man couldn’t go to the same schools, ride on the same buses, or even drink out of the same drinking fountain as a white man. There were many double standards throughout society.4…

    • 511 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    One major continuity in American history classes is the pointing out of the hypocrisies of our founding fathers. They wrote and signed a document that stressed the importance of natural rights for all, yet all of them owned slaves that they considered inferior to themselves. Benjamin Banneker writes a letter to one of these founding fathers, more specifically the one that wrote “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” in the Declaration of Independence (21-25). Banneker maintains strong stance on how unjust slavery is in the United States. He encourages Jefferson to relate…

    • 884 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    APUSH chapter 10 DBQ

    • 871 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The 13th amendment to the US constitution, passed in 1865, made slavery illegal in any state. However, it did not give slaves citizenship rights. Whites still felt that they held more power and made discriminatory laws against african americans. For example, a group of free blacks got together in South Carolina and wrote a petition to the Legislature asking for an end to the discriminatory laws. The document shows how the blacks were debarred of their rights to have a jury and give testimony on their own behalf. It also shows that slaves have been considered free citizens of the state and they should be treated that way(Document D). Another example of African American inequality can be shown in Benjamin Bannenker’s letter to Thomas Jefferson regarding the institution of slavery. In summary, Bannenker is showing the contradiction between wanting to break away from the tyrant of the British, and allowing slavery in the US. He quoted the Declaration of Independence by saying that Jefferson wrote we all have unalienable rights, but these rights aren’t being upheld with the institution of slavery and discrimination against blacks(Document C). Although…

    • 871 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Thomas Jefferson among others shined light on his education in law. When he conjured up the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson used natural rights and religious liberty to enlighten people as he wrote the Declaration. Jefferson presented Americans as self-governing people that “All men are created equal”. Through his importance on equality, Jefferson didn’t agree on slavery and believed that people enslaved were deprived. His views were that all people were equal and his humanism views were not like his other counterparties. Jefferson’s views on the issue was in good remarks however, there was no mention on the equality of slavery or even blacks. This one-sided issue makes you question this truth. Because in fact more than a fifth of the…

    • 219 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Benjamin Banneker Excerpt

    • 777 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Declaration of Independence, a well-respected document responsible for seceding the United States of America from the oppressive Great Britain, had a false allegation written in it: that all men were created equal and endowed with unalienable rights. The only men who proved to be equal in the eyes of society were the property owning white men, and slaves, after some of them having had helped their American allies achieve freedom, were once again subjugated to the cruel tendencies of their owners. There have been several opinions about its constitutional fairness and Benjamin Banneker—the son of former slaves and a highly intellectual individual—wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson that was designed to poke at his façade of his hypocritical view on what free men were by utilizing several religious appeals, an array of comparative allusions, and repetition of respectful notions.…

    • 777 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Banneker uses formal style diction and uses abstract words and ideas to show the vastness of freedom, slavery, and emotion; like in the phrases, “...tranquility which you enjoy...”; “...apprehensions of the horrors...”; and “...a time in which your tender feelings for yourselves has engaged you thus to declare...”. The abstract diction also creates an open-mindedness because ideas and feelings are something most anyone can relate to. Mr. Banneker also alludes to the Revolutionary War, “... recall to your mind that time in which the arms and tyranny of the British Crown were exerted with every powerful effort in order to reduce you to a State of Servitude...” Banneker does so to show all men were basically under slavery by Britain and all men fought for their right to freedom. Banneker alludes to the Bible as well, “...Job proposed to his friends, 'put your souls in their souls instead,...'” Another clever strategy Banneker uses is he cites the Declaration of Independence, “'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, an that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'” Banneker uses a counterargument, basically taking Jefferson's own words and using them against him.…

    • 387 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Shadow of Hate

    • 991 Words
    • 4 Pages

    I found alarming how Thomas Jefferson, one of our nation’s own Founding Fathers and the principal writer of the Declaration of Independence, owned slaves and wrote how the blacks were “inferior to the whites”. The man who wrote “All men are created equal”, was the man who lived by exactly the opposite of his own words.…

    • 991 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Declaration of Independence clearly stated that “all men are created equal” (2010) and because of the time that this was written in Jefferson was referring to Caucasian men. Women during that time had no rights and were not considered equals in society and African American’s were kept as slaves and they had not right as well. The white man who was wealthy and owned land was who Jefferson was referring to with that statement, he was basically stating that they were all afforded the same opportunities to make a better life and prosper. He was also saying that we will all be judged the same by God, even if we have different material possessions it will not matter and we will be judged accordingly but the same across the board. Jefferson also stated that “we are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” (2010) with this statement he was saying that God has given us all these rights and that everyone deserves to live life, and be happy.…

    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Benjamin Banneker, was a well-educated man and the son of former slaves, writes in his letter to Thomas Jefferson in 1791 that slavery is against the foundations that the country based upon itself upon. Banneker supports his argument by recalling texts and moments of history that was crucial to the foundation of America and the contradictory aspects of slavery. Banneker uses several rhetorical techniques including tone, allusion, diction, ethos, pathos, and counterargument to make his position of the given subject clear and to make Mr. Jefferson change his own opinion about slavery, The author’s purpose is to show Jefferson the contradictions of slavery and and eventually persuade him to abolish itslavery.…

    • 638 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Jefferson vs. Macheveli

    • 1719 Words
    • 7 Pages

    “We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable; that all mean are created equal....” One of Thomas Jefferson's examples of function of government. Jefferson's meaning would be, men have the right to the preservation of life & liberty , & the spirit of happiness. If you read much more further into his text you could read that these rights are endowed by our creator, our creator being god. Jefferson's piece being more of a religious philosophy. Jefferson's text; “..all men are created equal..”. Jefferson wrote this while he owned over 2000 African American slaves. Going to the event when the slavery issue back then would have resulted in a clash between the Southerners and Northerners that would have sabotaged the attempt to free the colonialists from the British rule. What he was addressing was the concept of nobility, the basis of the feudal society that Britain was living under the time. In other words, it was an attack on the British monarchy, which is why the British reacted so strongly against the colonialists. To suggest otherwise is simply misleading and deceptive. Equality is not some thing that a government can grant or deny a body of citizens, for this tight is unalienable. Meaning that our Deceleration of Independence states that each individual has certain basic rights, on the other hand which neither conferred by not derived from the…

    • 1719 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In a letter to Thomas Jefferson an advocate for slavery and framer of “The Declaration of Independence”; author, astronomer, mathematician, farmer, and the son of former slaves, Benjamin Banneker addresses the oppressive and horrifying nature of the slave trade that Banneker's ancestors had been in for generations. In this letter, Banneker exposes the cruelty slaves endeavored while expanding on the rights that were taken from his people, thus creating an elevated and sympathetic tone in which he builds his credibility to gain sympathy from Jefferson about former hardships to perhaps reach common ground. Also, Banneker uses complex diction in order to form his reasonable and collective argument to Jefferson as he establishes himself as a reliable adversary in obtaining equal rights for his people.…

    • 652 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Benjamin Banneker was born on November 9, 1731 in Maryland. He was the first African American mathematician and astronomer. Banneker was a free man who went to schoolhouses. He continued to self-educate himself after school hours through borrowed books and learn how to read from a Bible his mother gave him from London. At 20 years old, he built the first American wooden clock carved from his pocket knife that kept precise time. Then at 60 years old he teamed up with Andrew Ellicott to decide where the White House would be. In 1788, Benjamin made astronomical calculations and accurately predicted the solar eclipse the next year. He wrote letters about opposed slavery and advocated civil rights to future president Thomas Jefferson.…

    • 134 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays