Benjamin Banneker Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Benjamin Banneker’s Letter to Thomas Jefferson Rhetorical Analysis
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. Banneker builds his credibility by stating that he too has been
As the letter moves forth, Banneker continues using complex diction, but his tone changes to when he uses words such as “apprehensions” and “horrors” to describe the time of sorrow and pain of the Revolutionary War. Further into the passage Banneker changes his formal and sympathetic diction when he starts using phrases like “detaining fraud”, “groaning captivity” and “cruel oppression” to show and describe the gruesome acts and the horrifying days of segregation and slavery. Furthermore, he begins many of his phrases with the word “sir” which was intended to demonstrate his submission as respect to authority. However, the last paragraph of the letter shows a sense of sarcasm as if to say that Jefferson does not deserve the respect due to his immoral actions of