King 's Logical And Emotional Appeals

In paragraphs 12-14 of “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, Dr. King begins addressing the clergymen’s belief that the peaceful demonstrations conducted by him and his associates were untimely. King starts answering questions frequently heard by opposing or moderate forces, as well as essentially denouncing the resistance to desegregation. King then introduced the relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed; concluding that the oppressor is not inclined to act on things that do not directly affect them. Therefore, providing a platform of his argument as to why blacks could no longer wait to be given their basic human rights. Action needed to take place because fair treatment was no longer a hope to be given, it had to be taken.

Following the Civil War, America was in shambles. There were many groups with strong, conflicting ideas of how things should be. However, most groups had one idea in common: reducing the rights of African Americans as much as possible. Freed slaves had very little freedom under the law, were treated like a lesser species by those around them, and faced dangerous environments everywhere they went. Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation may have legally freed slaves, but African Americans were barely more than paid slaves.

Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963 to a divided and unjust nation. King’s tactful writing reached the entire nation, and his words resonated with everyone who heard them. His speech addressed the injustices and inequalities blacks face in America. “I Have a Dream” has gone down in history as one of the best speeches in modern history, received at a time of turmoil and racial tension. Therefore, King’s words have rung in the hearts of innumerable people, and his dreams and aspirations of equality, peace, and unconditional love for fellow mankind are morals and lessons everyone should model their life after.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech is one of the most successful and most legendary speeches in United States history. Martin Luther King Jr. was a masterful speaker, who established a strong command of rhetorical strategies. By his eloquent use of ethos, logos, and pathos, as well as his command of presentation skills and rhetorical devices, King was able to persuade his generation that "the Negro is not free" (King 1). His speech became the rallying cry for civil rights and lives on as an everlasting masterpiece.

Freedom has always been something every human has desired. Sadly, this has been something that was not guaranteed until more recent times. At the start of the Civil War, many slaves were in a war that was originally meant to unify the seceded states rather than getting rid of slavery. When 1863 came around, the Civil War was in full force and with the Battle of Gettysburg and the highly anticipated Emancipation Proclamation led to the turning points of the war with many slaves seeing freedom as something possible. The establishment of the Massachusetts 54th Colored Infantry is what many saw as step toward the right direction which allowed African-Americans to fight for their freedom. Towards the last days of the Civil War, Frederick Douglass

“A Comparison of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech and ‘Letter from a Birmingham Jail’”.

Slavery ultimately ended with the Civil War and President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 freeing slaves and allowing them to join the Union army. In the wake of trials and reconstruction from the Civil War, the idea of birthright citizenship and equal protection regardless of race were written into the Constitution. This was perhaps the first time that freedom did not equate to being white. Freedom however, did not mean equal rights, and African American’s were still subjected to inequalities for a lengthy

Slavery has always remained one of the essential part of American History and its constitution. Status of African American and issues related to slavery has played a major role in destroying and affecting the life of individuals in the American region. Lincoln to Luther, everyone was against slavery and worked for the equality of black and white (State Gov). According to Lincoln, slavery was an injustice monster and his major concern was to maintain a union between black and white on the basis of equal rights. For this reason America faced a number of challenges since its discovery and the migration of Mexicans and Africans in America and hence lead to a long history of transition of slavery of former slaves into mainstream of modern society.

In “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, King attempts to gain the support of all men in his quest for universal justice. Even though his letter

America allows its citizens such freedom that they can essentially create success out of nothing. The American Dream is a term that every person is common with, but it is something that they view in a different way. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr delivered what is commonly known as the “I Have a Dream…” speech at the “March of Washington”. King starts off with an observation that African Americans were still not free more than 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Although the Emancipation Proclamation declared that the end of slavery were key steps towards freedom for African Americans since segregation and discrimination have forced African Americans into a society of inequality. King states that there is still much work to do to actually

“We are free at last!” (King #4) In “I Have a Dream,” by Martin Luther King, his purpose is to persuade people to fight for the negro’s freedom but to do it peacefully. This speech is more compelling because it gives lot’s of emotion and different diction to persuade people to fight for the negro’s freedom.

In the United States, the slaves were free but continued to face discrimination and violence at the hands of white supremacists. Lincoln’s emancipation was more successful,

In January of 1865, the thirteenth amendment was passed which abolished slavery freeing four million African American slaves. Since they were not owned by another person anymore, they had more rights than they did as slaves, which was not very difficult considering slaves essentially had no rights. None the less, any bit of freedom was understandably, important to African Americans. However, freedom from slavery in America is very different from equality in America and many people, even today, think that the freedom of slavery for African American’s insinuated overall equality in America. While the passing of the 13ththamendment was a pivotal step in the free country that America is today, African Americans being freed from slavery does not mean that they are free from everything else.

Following the conclusion of the Civil War, a light of hope appeared for all African Americans, both freed and enslaved. For years they had been subject to tortures that were inhumane, such as being split apart from their families, being forced into manual labor, and severe punishment for failure to obey the rules their harsh masters had put in place for them. With people like Charles Sumner and Abraham Lincoln working within the government to bring rights to the enslaved, people began to think that they stood a chance. Many different legislations were passed that gave African Americans rights, however the South was very displeased with this. The state governments of the former Confederacy made it so that it was nearly impossible for these legislations to have any effect on the blacks that lived in the South. The African Americans of the South had finally gained their rightful freedom, but government officials not only made it so that they had a harder time living, but it was almost as if they had never gained rights at all.

Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream” speech inspired all kinds of Americans to join in the fight for African American freedom. He believed that there should be justice for all, so he used his speech to demand freedom. King said in his speech that in order to receive the freedom, they must never give up until their requests were met. “But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity in this nation”(48). This quote means that King believed that everyone should be treated equal, and that they should get the rights they deserved. King