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Rhetorical Analysis Of The Declaration Of Independence By David Walker

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By the 1820’s, the Abolitionist movement had already been fairly successful in transforming attitudes towards slavery in the colonies. Throughout the early years of the sentiment, many writers and orators repeatedly called upon the heritage of the Revolution in calling for an end to slavery. When David Walker’s Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World appeared in 1829, however, it marked something distinctly different, a kind of vociferous attack on slavery that had seldom, if ever, been seen in print. When it first emerged, it was the most confrontational anti‐slavery document to have ever been published, and even though it was criticized as being extremely radical, it contained logical extensions of the principles of the American …show more content…

Walker appeals to the language of the Declaration of Independence to criticize Anglo American treatment of black slaves, saying "See your Declaration Americans! Do you understand your own language? Hear your languages, proclaimed to the world, July 4th, 1776, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL! that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness!" Compare your own language above, extracted from your Declaration of Independence, with your cruelties and murders inflicted by your cruel and unmerciful fathers and yourselves on our fathers and on us, men who have never given your fathers or you the least provocation!” Here Walker is questioning that if white men claimed in the Declaration of Independence that all men are equal, why were black people treated so poorly. He articulates that black people were not put on this earth to become enslaved. He believes that whites are dehumanizing blacks and this is not what God intended because in his eyes all men are created equally. He appeals to others of color saying "Are we MEN! I ask you, 0 my brethren I are we MEN? Did our Creator make us to be slaves to dust and ashes like ourselves?" Walker is …show more content…

He asserts that the Unites States is just as much their country as it is the whites, saying "America is more our country, than it is the whites-we have enriched it with our blood and tears. The greatest riches in all America have arisen from our blood and tears: and will they drive us from our property and homes, which we have earned with our blood?" Walker upheld the belief that there was an absolute duty to fight injustice. Moreover, he advocated the use of political violence if white people refused to change their ways, pointing out that the right to revolt against an unjust institution was the basis on which the Declaration of Independence was written. Black people needed to find the will to stand together and fight rather than remain enslaved. With injunctions such as these, Walker effectively articulated his rallying call. If colored people were to regain their freedom and rights, then they had to become a more unified, courageous, and proud people. Without these virtues, they could not gain God’s full approval and their oppressors could not be

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