Racial Rhetorical Analysis Of Barack Obama's A More Perfect Union

“A More Perfect Union” is a speech given on March 18, 2008, by Barack Obama, at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Barack Obama, a black man with an African father and an American mother, took the stage and delivered a speech that would paint the racial picture of the years to come from his presidency. His speech was over the racial injustice that is spreading throughout the United States, and to inform the issue raising from his long-time pastor, at the Trinity United Church of Christ about making inflammatory statements over the United States government and race relationships in America. Obama's speech opens up using personal and historical stories from his past to catch the audience's attention and to appeal

He opens his speech with the famous words from The Declaration of Independence; “ We the people, in order to form a more perfect union”(Obama 461). He uses this quote from the Declaration of Independence to better explain the broad perspective of why the founding father created the declaration, to lay the grounds for the creation of a better nation. He goes on to say how they did sign it, but ultimately it was unfinished. He states “It was stained by this nation’s original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations”(Obama 461). Barack used this quote with a logical reasoning, stating the facts on how the founding fathers of this nation did not have any say about the common slave or their self rights, but just to let the future take care of it problem. He then explains his personal experiences with racial injustice and how it dealt with it as a young man to incorporate his own character into the ongoing problem. He states “I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas”(Obama 461). “ I was raised with the help of a white grandfather. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue”(Obama 462). Obama mentions a lot from his past, wanting his audience to get a sense of his perspective on the idea of how he viewed racial inequality and the struggles he had to face growing up with a much diverse family. The use of pathos or emotional appeal in Obama’s speech “A More Perfect Union”, is one of the crucial keys on making his essay so powerful to show the makeup of racial