Rhetorical Analysis Essay On Civil War

Nathan Jones
Period 7 Mr. Jackson
Greatest Hits Essay

Throughout the course of American history, there have been conflicts and differing opinions, many of which threatened the unity and founding ideals of the nation. Ever since the nation’s birth, sectional issues between the North and South about slavery caused the respective regions to become increasingly culturally different in terms of the ideals of justice, equality, and unity. Authors have tried to remedy this through literature, utilizing rhetorical strategies to communicate themes and arguments. Some of these authors were our nation's greatest leaders such as Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson, while others were some of the biggest advocates of civil rights, like Martin Luther

America has always struggled with division, especially amongst the issue of equality. Slavery pushed the North and South morally, politically, and economically apart. Tensions grew, however right before the Civil war and his election, Lincoln gave an address attempting to unify the nation. He said that he was “devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, [however] insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union '' (Lincoln 1). In this, Lincoln addresses his rhetorical situation, and utilizes words such as [insurgent] and [destroy] to convey the direness of the situation. However, at the same time he uses his own ethos to promise that he will do everything to unite the union, to prevent war. The entire purpose of the civil war was first and foremost a war to reunify the country. In both his words, promises, and actions he communicates the importance of a unified nation. During the war, lincoln said in the Gettysburg address “are engaged in a civil war, testing whether [the] nation can long endure”, later saying that “this nation under god shall have a new birth of freedom and shall not perish from the earth"(Lincoln 1). Together Lincoln addresses the historical context with these two quotes. He uses diction and word

Before the nation was even created, Americans had to preserve to create a nation. To attempt to unite and reinforce morale amongst the colonists, Thomas Paine publishes the pamphlet “The Crisis”. At the time, only one-third of the country supported the revolution, thus Tohmas Paine was trying to convince them in a crisis. He doing so, he said that “ By perseverance and forti- tude [americans] have the prospect of a glorious issue; by cowardice and submission, the sad choice of a vari- ety of evils-a ravaged country…our homes turned into barracks and bawdy-houses for Hessians.” (Paine 3) Here, Paine uses a variety of rhetorical devices to make his point. He uses diction through words such as [fortitude], conveying the need for strong perseverance and [bawdy-houses] to convey the direness of the situation and the absolute need to preserve, or else the country will be ravaged. He uses a bit of ethos that leans onto scare tactics to convince his audience that they must continue fighting for their country, must continue to preserve for the prospect of freedom. As previously mentioned, equality and unity are the biggest issues facing America and solving them is necessary for America to live up to its founding ideals. To solve this, whether in war or peace, America must preserve. In the Civil