[Strike Freedom]

I was writing an essay for my writing class, and its my final essay. The prompt is "In this analytical essay of three to four pages, you will employ all that you have learned this quarter. You need to identify the rhetorical tools and strategies present in the speech, and you need to present an argument about the effectiveness of the tools used by the author and the validity of the author's claims. You need to stick to the elements of strong expository essay writing by presenting a clear and interesting thesis, by making sure that all of your paragraphs possess clear topic sentences"

My essay:

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in Kentucky. He became the sixteenth President of the United States on March 4, 1861. At this time, the United States was fighting in a civil war of the Union against the Confederates because of several issues, such as slavery. He was assassinated on April 14, 1865 by John Wilkes Booth, an actor that supported the Confederates, when he was attending a show at Ford’s Theater. His first inaugural address was given to an audience that had different feelings about slavery, so he took that into account when he gave his speech. It was a cold but sunny day, and an audience of Senators, journalist, and other people showed up for his speech. Although he does not use as many rhetoric schemes and tropes as other people, the ones he does use are very effective and contribute greatly to his speech. He uses antithesis, allusion, climax, anaphora, and alliteration throughout his speech successfully throughout his speech because he places them well and they help convince the audience that he is the right person to be the president. By using rhetorical schemes and tropes, I feel that the speech successfully shows Lincoln’s ability to run the presidential office well.
Although Lincoln does not use as many rhetorical schemes and tropes as other speech writers, the ones he does use greatly enhance his speech. He uses many schemes of throughout his speech. The schemes of repetition he uses are alliteration, anaphora, and climax. He uses alliteration several times throughout his speech. Some places he uses them are “majority must” and “property, peace…” Alliteration creates a rhythm that the audience can follow and makes his speech more persuasive because it helps his ideas flow together and helps it make more sense to the audience. He also uses anaphora several times such as when he talks about the Constitution and he constantly says “The Constitution…The Constitution…The Constitution…” He also uses anaphora in his speech when he discusses treaties and starts all his questions with the word “and”. Anaphora stresses ideas to his audience because he constantly reiterates them and makes those ideas stick in his listeners head. Lincoln also uses climax in his speech. He uses climax when he says “The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging o the Government…” He gives the list in an increasingly important order to make the last item seem bigger than everything and it helps him stress that the last item on the list is very important. He uses schemes of repetition many times throughout his speech.
He also uses many other types of schemes and tropes throughout his speech. He uses antithesis and allusion throughout his speech. He uses antithesis throughout his speech and When he quotes himself from one of his previous speech, he says “‘I have no purpose, directly or indirectly,…’” which is an example of antithesis because he has two contrasting ideas because directly and indirectly are two opposite things. Another example of antithesis is when he says “If the minority will not acquiesce, the majority must, or the Government must cease.” because he talks about the minority then the majority. He uses antithesis several more times throughout his speech to show two sides of an idea and uses it to show what bad things could happen, but when he says the good it makes him seem like he is going to do that. Antithesis helps compare and contrasts ideas, and makes the positive idea seem bigger and makes it seem like is going to do the thing to help the community. He uses allusion many times in his speech. He alludes a wife and her husband to the Confederacy and the Union when he talks about how a wife and husband could be divorced, but not separated. He has an entire paragraph that alludes to the Constitution by talking about laws in it. He expects everybody to know what he means when he talks about the Constitution and that they can relate things. Allusion makes him seem like he knows more and it shows how witty he is and how he can incorporate that in how he writes laws and other items when he is the president. Lincoln uses many other schemes and tropes throughout his speech to help express his ideas.
Together, the rhetorical schemes and tropes work together to make his message and his position on several issues clear. His schemes and tropes make his position on arguments seem more apparent and clear. He uses rhetorical schemes and tropes sparingly compared to other speeches, so the effect they have when he does use them is greater. They help make his message come across more easily and when he does use rhetorical schemes and tropes, it makes the audience know that he really cares about that issue. The rhetorical schemes and tropes create a rhythm and gets the audience into a beat so it eases them into listening to the speech. They help get his message across by making his argument stronger because it gives examples and compares and contrasts ideas. The rhetorical schemes and tropes work together to make his message and his position on issues clear.
Lincoln uses all three types of rhetoric modes, logos, ethos, and pathos, in his speech. He uses logos, appealing to the audiences’ sense of logic, because he refers to logical and real things, such as the Constitution and several articles in it. An example of him using logos is “It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It matured and continued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776.” This is an example of Lincoln using pathos because he is talking about events and things that have taken place and that are real. He uses pathos, appealing to the emotion of the audience, by saying “Whoever rejects it does, of necessity, fly to anarchy or to despotism.” This is because he is trying to scare the audience into agreeing with him, and he is implying if someone doesn’t believe in similar things as the American public, they should move away from the country. He uses ethos, establishing a sense of authority, in many ways because he constantly mentions figures of authorities, such as the Constitution and Supreme Court. These things are considered important in American culture and it makes it seem that Lincoln is very familiar with these things and knows what he is talking about when it comes to politics. Lincoln uses all three types of rhetoric modes in his speech.
Lincoln was giving his speech to different classes of people, from the previous president to journalist to regular people; and they cared about several things in common, but the major thing that America was concerned with was slavery. Lincoln took this into account and acknowledged his position on slavery several times. The Civil War was starting because of the differences on opinions on slavery, and although Lincoln opposed slavery, he specifically reiterated the fact that he would not control the Confederacy on whether they used slaves or not. He says “I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that ‘I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution in the States where it exists.’” This shows that he cares about people’s rights because he is allowing people that do not want to be under his law the way they would like. He was trying to show the people that he would be a good leader. He was trying to address many issues before he officially came into office. He tries to convince the Confederates to rejoin the Union, but he does not come out and say it directly, but underlies it in passages such as “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.” He also uses an underlying message to try and convince the Confederates to rejoin the Union in the passage “A husband and wife may be divorced, and go out of the presence and beyond the reach of other; but the different parts of our country cannot do this.” He compares the Confederacy and Union to a husband and wife. He uses historical background information to show the people that they could trust him and his ideas. Lincoln’s address is successful because he eventually comes through with the things he talks about in his speech and acknowledges several problems of the time.
I believe that Lincoln’s speech was successful for two reasons. One, it successfully created a sense of authority. He made it sound like he knew what he was doing and he would be a good leader. He addressed the audience with force and made an impression that he was the right person for the job and is fit to be the President. Lincoln makes the audience know that they could trust him and if they follow him, good things will happen. He makes sure that his audience knows that he knows what he is talking about by talking about famous documents, such as the Constitution, and places, such as the Supreme Court. The second reason his speech is successful is because the speech convinces the audience to his side. He gives an underlying meaning to what he says, such as the last passage where he tries to convince the Confederates to rejoin the Union. He uses words to tell exactly what his position is and gives background information on why his position is the best. I believe that Lincoln’s speech was successful in showing that he was ready for the job of President.
Abraham Lincoln was the President of the United States until he was assassinated on April 14, 1865. His inaugural address was given to a wide variety of people, and it was successful in proving that he was fit for the job as being the President. He addressed many ideas that the people of America felt strongly about during those times, such as slavery. Although he does not use as many rhetoric devices and tropes as other speech writers, the ones he does use are very successful and enhance his speech greatly. I believe that Abraham Lincoln’s inaugural address was successful in proving that he was ready for the position of being President.


Please post some feedback on what I could impove on.