Analysis Of The Book ' Jefferson ' The Pillow ' By Roger Wilkins

Benjamin Banneker was an African American man who was not enslaved, but was the son of former slaves. He writes to Thomas Jefferson on the unequal rights of African Americans and slaves, and it turned out to be very influential and well known today. In Benjamin Banneker’s essay, he tries to persuade Thomas Jefferson that African Americans are treated as unequal by the American people which is contradictory to what the nation stands for by using the rhetorical devices of hortative diction, allusion, syntax, and arrangement.

In the books The Quartet and Thomas Jefferson, Joseph Ellis and Joyce Appleby discuss their thoughts on two important moments in American history and how they believe them to be revolutionary. The Quartet describes the political situation of the United States immediately following the American Revolution and how it made the transformation from a confederation into a republic. To do this, it follows the actions of four prominent men – George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison – as they work toward their goal of bringing about a new national government and discusses nationalism, issues such as economics and expansion, and arguments about personal, state, and federal powers. He argues that the debate over the Constitution was between “nationalists” and “confederationists”, that the second Revolution was a by-product of the first in that it took the systems of the newly-independent states and reworked them into a coherent national collective, and that without this change, the United States couldn’t have become a modern model of government.

In 1791 Benjamin Banneker, the son of former slaves, astronomer, and almanac author, wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson, in a courteous but forceful manner, challenging the framer of the Declaration of Independence and secretary of state on the topics of race and freedom. He touches on the topics of the way blacks were treated and seen by the common white American citizen and how it is an injustice. In his letter, Banneker uses ethos, logos, pathos, repetition, syntax, and juxtaposition to sympathize with Jefferson about former hardships to perhaps reach common ground.

Slavery is an evil seed, deeply rooted in our country’s history. Nowadays, many choose to ignore it or forget it, but one must admit to its existence and horror. This seed led to debates of fair vs. unfair, right vs. wrong, human vs. property. Consequently, one man sought out to express this horror and struggle that he had experienced first hand. Benjamin Banneker, the son of former slaves, writes to the framer of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson in 1791. He speaks for “his brethren” and asks Jefferson to “wean yourself from those narrow prejudices which you have imbibed with respect to them [slaves].” This recommendation is supported by emotional appeals describing the extent of slavery, reflections of Jefferson’s

Benjamin Banneker, the son of former slaves, constructed a letter regarding slavery and its primary effects, which is written to Thomas Jefferson during the early 1790s. Throughout this document Banneker’s ultimate goal was not to abolish slavery, but argue against the wrath slavery causes slaves. Throughout Banneker’s work he effectively uses several rhetorical strategies. Such as anaphora, allusions, and pathos over the course of his letter. In doing so, Banneker creates a provocative tone, which will leave an eternal impact not only on Jefferson but the reader.

During the eighteenth century, a young America was fighting for the liberty, freedom, and equal rights while the second largest economy in America was the practice of slavery. While many middle-class Americans appreciated the values which were being fought for, they began to realize the stark contrast between the values which America was fighting for and the values which slavery supported. Some of these Americans, who wanted a say in the foundation of America, reached out to the founding fathers calling for change. One such American calling for change was Benjamin Banneker, a freed African-American slave who taught himself calculus as well as published his own almanac. Banneker, upset with the inferior description which Jefferson associates with African Americans, wrote a letter which argued against Jefferson’s claims through the implementation of various rhetorical strategies. By varying tones throughout the letter, providing accounts of personal experience as evidence, as well as using Jefferson’s own arguments against him, Banneker’s letter persuades Jefferson that his ideas about black inferiority are false; thus, black people should gain all of the rights which are entitled to white men accordingly.

Thomas Jefferson’s relationship with slavery is a complex one. It is, perhaps, ironic to think that someone who owned slaves would be an advocate to end that very same practice. How can Jefferson be hailed as a champion for slave rights because of his opposition to slavery while, at the same time, using other people as property? Although somewhat contradictory at first, the nature of the relationship between Jefferson’s opinions and his attitudes towards slavery will be thoroughly examined in order to understand the means by which he helped fuel a revolution in the context of a society that was so dependent on slavery. In other words, Jefferson was a significant piece of the abolitionist movement, and so that the seeming differences between what he did and what he preaches can be understood, we must also analyze the historical context. By doing so, we find that Jefferson was indeed ahead of the times, although in his own unique way, and the reason why it might have been significant that he was a slaveowner while trying to end the practice.

Inhumane degeneration of colored people by human trafficking had once lasted for two centuries in America. Those trafficked by white people became slaves sold in auditions were strained and were commonly abused by their masters. Slaves were compelled to perform vigorous labor everyday for seven years in hope for a day that their master will release them. Benjamin Banneker was a son of a former slave who had wrote a letter to ex-US Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson in hope for Jefferson to take role in part of abrogating enslavement. Although Banneker was born as a free man, his determination of resolving servitude had brought himself to construct a letter to Jefferson. Through the use of emotional diction, tone, and religious allusion, Banneker emphasizes his passion for freeing slaves of America.

My rhetorical analysis is about a free African-American almanac writer, naturalist, and farmer who fought against slavery and who earned the recognition of many high officials of the time, including Thomas Jefferson. As D.L. Chandler pointed out, Benjamin Banneker, wrote to Thomas Jefferson, on August 19, 1791, to condemn the practice of slavery in the United States. Banneker attempted to persuade Thomas Jefferson of his forbearance of slave practices and the fact that he owned slaves yet pronounced himself morally correct in society. (Chandler, 2017) By changing his choice of words and phrases and suggesting a call to attention using history and the Bible as reference, Banneker adopted a respectful yet critical respectability to move

According to Matthew Mason’s academic journal “A Missed Opportunity? The Founding, Postcolonial Realities, And The Abolition Of Slavery,” African Americans have been enslaved in America since the early 17th century.” The first slaves were brought by the Dutch to the colony of Jamestown, Virginia to help harvest tobacco. The institution of slavery was practiced in America through the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Slavery helped to build the economic foundation of the United States. When the Emancipation Proclamation was passed by Abraham Lincoln in the year 1893 it changed the lives of over three million slaves who were reclassified as “slave” to “free.” Former slaves struggled to find their place within this new world of freedom which they had not yet known before. However, African Americans still faced problems such as discrimination, lack of opportunity, stereotyping, and mortality. Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois both confronted these issues. These two men advocated for the advancement of Black people within society, however in this essay I argue that Du Bois was more effective than Booker T. Washington because of his idea that African Americans should have the same possibility to achieve the same rights as any other race in the United States.

During the time period of late colonial and revolutionary America, change emerged with great occurrence. Society and the individuals that shaped its very being were influenced greatly by not just the land around them, but the people who came forth and represented it. From 1787 to 1861, America experienced an increased fluctuate of these particular individuals. For example Alexander Hamilton, Frederick Douglas, and Andrew Jackson. Each of those named reigned in their own quarters leaving an influential mark in cultural and political domains. One being one of America’s founding fathers, another being a highly revered social reformer, and lastly one who served as the seventh president of the United States. To be a white man owning a considerable amount of property meant that their “voice” was valid, considerably they had a decision on the direction America would go. However, not everyone fit into the standards that defined the white man who held a voice. To be alive during the time of a highly judgmental society having a voice was faced with high criticism. It was background information and social status swayed over the people. Diversity between these two factors shaped the voices of American society, molding experience into the men and women who left their influence on American history.

Throughout the entire history of the United States, there has never been a more controversial subject than that of slavery. The ways we’ve mishandled fellow Americans and treated them as inferior beings cannot be forgotten. Benjamin Banneker was a child of some of these slaves. In his letter to the president at the time, Thomas Jefferson, Banneker uses rhetorical strategies - high-level diction, repetition, and syntax - to argue against slavery and hopefully change Jefferson's view on the unforgettable subject. Banneker’s use of high-level diction primarily establishes his ethos.

In the making of the American Government, the Declaration of Independence was formed based on the Christian judgment of Thomas Jefferson. In the publication of this document, the ethics of Jefferson were questioned when the absence of the abolishment of slavery was noticed. Benjamin Banneker, an educated African American, uncovers and reveals Thomas Jefferson’s honorable facade through and overbearing euphemistic tone, religious questioning, and guilt to emphasize Jefferson’s flaws in his theological and political morality in hopes to rebuke the institution.

In his manuscript, Jefferson philosophies point towards an ethnocentric viewpoint when he talks about the needs and elitism of the colonial whites. He says that in order to maintain a purer society of whites the negro slaves must be removed, “This unfortunate difference of color, and perhaps of faculty, is a powerful obstacle to the emancipation of these people […] while they wish to vindicate their liberty of human nature, are anxious also to preserve its dignity and beauty” (Jefferson 105). He hoped that by making policy around the removal and extradition of the slaves, the moral fabric of the colonies would remain pure and unaffected by the interaction or presence of Negro slaves in their population. This ideal most identifies with the Ethnic Hierarchy theory Fredrickson is responsible for.

The publication of Clotel in London in 1853 is the first indication of irony, by assessing the persisting gap between freedom in Europe and the ruthless existence of slavery in America. Furthermore, it indicates to the reader African American status in U.S. culture. To begin, allow us discuss Thomas Jefferson, father of American Independence and a father of slave children. A free African American, Benjamin Banneker, contested the “racialist views” offered in Notes on the State of Virginia and challenged the Declaration of Independence as a