I Have A Dream Ethos Pathos Logos

America’s founding fathers promised rights to everyone, not just white, but black men too. I found the “Have a Dream” speech by, Dr. Martin Luther King, most compelling because it impacted the community using pathos to further pursuade the minds of the people. His idea was that black people deserve the freedom and equality that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution had to offer, because everyone deserves the same rights. The speech consists of main ideas such as: how the Emancipation Proclamation was suppose to free all African slaves, how African Americans won’t be satisfied until they all become completely free, and finally, how the Declaration and the Constitution suggested that everyone deserves “certain unalienable rights.”

And continuing with, “Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come marked “insufficient funds.” (King paragraph 4). Not only is MLK using pathos to inflict a more angered emotion, but he also relates the issues to a common problem such as money or salaries. Next, MLK states a question, “there are those who are asking devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” (King paragraph 14). African Americans will never be satisfied until they are treated equally; “...as long as our children are sripped of of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by a sign stating: “For Whites Only” (King paragraph 14). Pathos, among other rhetorical devices provide a connection between the reader and the speaker. The civil rights movement indicated a significant message to everyone that Dr. Martin Luther clearly speaks about: freedom for blacks. Civil rights mean, “And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the worlds of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! (King paragraphs 43,

Throughout his speech, he clearly mentions the “unalienable rights” (King paragraph 4) that everyone deserves. Pathos depicted this part of the speech because when people start rethinking things of the past, they soon understand. “... they were signing a promissory note to which every American has to fall heir.” (King paragraph 4). This illustrates to America the reasons for which black men and women were promised the same rights as everyone else. Likewise, he goes on to say, “Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.” (King paragraph 6). Although he is not taking any words from the Declaration or the Constitution in this statement; this clearly alludes to both because of it’s clear statement about God’s children. Truly, MLK was right to say, “And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights.” (King paragraph 8). The citizenship rights refer to those the Declaration granted everyone (both black men and white