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The Hypocrisy of American Slavery

 

            The hypocrisy of American Slavery was delivered on July 5, 1852 in Rochester, New York. Douglas's speech spurred the motivation of blacks towards their struggle for slavery emancipation and the same time ridiculing white's hypocrisy and double standards towards blacks. The speech shows the United States as a nation that was celebrating independence and freedom but also enslaving blacks. To convey the message clearly Douglass used various literacy techniques and styles in the speech to better help convince the audience. Douglass used ethos, pathos, irony, and rhetorical question which helped the audience visualize and memorize the main points discussed in his speech. Fredrick Douglas's speech in 1852 was full of rhetorical appeals and canons that helped in the abolishment of slavery and slave trade all across the world. .
             The first rhetorical aspect Douglass utilized in his speech was pathos. Pathos shows the emotional power of the speech. An example Douglass used is when he says, "For who is there so cold, that a nations sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, which would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? " (Douglass 54). These statements influence and trigger emotions of the audience. The statement vividly portrays the suffering faced by slaves in the United States by making the audience to visualize the suffering in their memories. The audience is made to feel the emotional and physical torture by reflecting at the guilt they have. Douglass realized that people's emotions are very strong and influenced by the decisions they make so that's why he uses a lot of pathos to connect with his audience. Another example of pathos is when Douglass says, "Cast one glance, if you please, upon that young mother whose shoulders are bare to the scorching sun, her briny tears falling on the baby in her arms. See, too, that girl thirteen, weeping, yes! Weeping, as she thinks of the mother from whom she has been torn! " (Douglass 83).


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