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Similarities Between Jonathan Edwards And The American Crisis

Decent Essays

Two individuals by the names of Thomas Paine and Jonathan Edwards were writers during the 1700’s that both had a goal of convincing their audiences to think a certain way. Paine’s literary piece titled “The American Crisis” was written during the time of the Revolutionary War. Paine’s goal was to make his audience believe that they should continue to fight for their freedom because of all of the bad things the king had done to them. Edwards wrote a speech that he delivered to his congregation titled “Sinners In the Hands Of An Angry God”. He wanted them to believe if they did not stop sinning then God would send them to hell. Both of the texts appeals to the use of Pathos, Ethos and Logos. Pathos, Ethos, and Logos are different ways that …show more content…

The final persuasive appeal he uses is Logos. He states “ Why is it that they enemy have left the New England provinces, and made these middle ones the seat of war? The answer is easy: New England is not infested with Tories, and we are” This appeals to logos because he is saying that it is logical to think that the reason they are the seat of war is because they are infested with Tories. Another logical argument he makes is that is that if the way the king is treating them is not considered slavery then slavery does not exist, he supports this claim by saying “and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Paine also uses literary devices throughout his text. One of the devices he used was the simile. For example, he used a comparison of tyranny to hell in an attempt to get the American people to rise to action by saying “Tyranny like hell, is not easily conquered”. He also used the simile when he described an event in which the French was scared away, he stated “...Kingdom of France, was driven back like men petrified with fear;”. He also used personification abundantly in his text by stating “America will never be happy until she is free of foreign dominion” and

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