Martin Luther King's Speech Appeals

When looking at speeches, two of the most memorable are Martin Luther King Jr’s, “I Have A Dream” and Abraham Lincoln’s Battle of Gettysburg speech. In these speeches, three elements that have a significant amount of similarities and differences are the appeals, purposes, and rhetorical devices. One of the elements that the two speeches have are the appeals. One of the differences in appeals these two speeches have is the fact that in Dr. King’s speech has a lot more logical appeals. For instance, he says, “This note is a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life.” This is an example of logos because the Declaration of Independence does say this without discriminating color. One of the similarities between the two speeches’ appeals is that they both use emotional appeals. In Abraham Lincoln’s speech he says, “We have come here to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who

One similarity is that they both want equality. In Abraham’s speech he talks about how there should be no colored slaves because, as he says, “all men are created equal,” and in Dr. King’s speech he talks about how “the Negro are still not free” and should be. One of the differences the two purposes have is that Dr. King wants to keep peace for equality, while Abraham’s speech wants people to keep fighting for equality. For example, in Dr. king’s speech he states, “We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence,” and then goes on to say, “The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust all white people.” Also, in Lincoln’s speech he says, “It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced,” telling the audience to keep