Banneker: Rhetoric Elegante

The dichotomy between the natural rights that our forefathers fought for and their desire to escape from the tyranny of the British – while at the same time enslaving and entire race of people – has always been troubling to the American psyche. While many have brushed it under the table since the dawn of our nation, on this text Benjamin Banneker, the son of a slave, calls Thomas Jefferson out on his hypocrisy. In the way that he addresses Jefferson, in his extended analogy between the enslavement of the colonists and the black race, and finally in his masterful employment of logos, Banneker successfully makes his argument for African American freedom.

            One of the most interesting and apparent rhetorical strategies that Banneker employs is his repetition of the word Sir. “ Sir, suffer me to recall to you… Here, sir, was a time in which… Sir, I suppose that your knowledge,” are just of few of the times that Banneker repeats this word. This choice in diction has a complex effect on the audience. On one hand, the use of the word sir formalizes the tone of the letter and is a sign of respect. But, on the other hand, this use, and how frequently it is repeated creates a sense that Banneker is almost mocking Jefferson, and is calling him out for pretending to be a great liberator of human rights while still enslaving fellow human beings. This one word choice also serves the reader in that it emphasizes that this text is in reality a personal letter; it has been written by a man who has lived the horrors of slavery and is directly appealing to one of the most powerful men in America to put and end to it.

            Banneker’s letter achieves its monumental and moving tone by making the comparison between the natural rights of man that were so instrumental in sparking the American revolution, and the natural rights of black men. Because this letter was written in 1791, the revolutionary values were still at the forefront of the American mind.  Banneker writes of how God has bestowed the “rights and privileges which have been conferred upon them (the white colonist), that at the same time counteract his mercies in detaining by fraud and violence so numerous a part of my brethren under groaning captivity and cruel oppression.” Thus this comparison that Banneker makes between the oppression of the British and the oppression of the white man is quite apt, and ultimately is a wise way to approach convincing Jefferson that slavery in unjust.

            The appeal that Banneker most depends on is logos. His rhetorical strategy entailed presenting a logical argument that would expose the backwardness of racial injustice. His clear steps present an inescapable and obvious truth to Jefferson: that he has become the same oppressor that he fought against; he should, “be found guilty of that most criminal act which you professedly detested in others.”  

Banneker eschews preaching about his personal experiences with slavery to build ethos, or writing about the harsh and disheartening experience of slavery to build pathos. It is clear here that his use of logos was a wise and calculated decision; one that was tailored to the subject and recipient of this letter. Thomas Jefferson, who was a highly intelligent and rational man, would respond better to logic than to any emotional grandstanding. Thus Banneker once more shows his skill and manipulation of rhetoric.

            It is impossible to imagine the amount of emotion that would go into writing a letter to one of the most powerful men in America, a slave-owner himself, from the perspective of a black man whose family has been betrayed by slavery. But Benjamin Banneker does not let anything get in the way of his clear and logical appeal for justice. He artfully maneuvers diction and syntax to reveal the hypocrisy of a man who has dedicated his life to perpetuating the God-given rights of man, but who at the same time enslaves humans. The way that Banneker addresses Jefferson is clearly a double-edged sword: at the once respecting and mocking the future of President of the United States. This cry to end slavery is a particularly effective and thought-provoking text because of its author’s mastery of rhetoric.