Rhetorical Analysis Of The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights

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The text is about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states the fundamental rights and freedoms everyone universally is entitled to (Rayner). As a result of World War II, the United Nations established a Human Rights Commission, which dealt with the violations of human rights the victims of World War II suffered (History of the Document). Eleanor Roosevelt was appointed as a delegate to the United Nations and soon became the chair of the Commission (Lewis). In her speech she is speaking to the United Nations General Assembly in order to convince them to endorse the Declaration of Human Rights. Eleanor Roosevelt delivered this speech on December 9, 1948 (Eidenmuller). Her thesis states, “This declaration may well become the international Magna Carta for all men …show more content…

In the beginning paragraph she states, “Taken as a whole the Delegation of the United States believes that this is a good document – even a great document – and we propose to give it our full support” (Eidenmuller). In this quote Roosevelt talks about the delegates of the United States the Declaration of Human Rights. This is an effective example of amplification because she emphasizes at the very beginning of her speech how the Declaration of Human Rights is a good document. Another example is in paragraph 7 where Roosevelt makes a logical appeal. The paragraph states “The Soviet proposal for deferring consideration of the Declaration to the 4th session of the Assembly requires no comment. An identical text was rejected in committee 3 by a vote of 6 in favor and 26 against. We are all agreed, I am sure, that the Declaration, which has been worked on with such great effort and devotion, and over such a long period of time, must be approved by this Assembly at this session” (Eidenmuller). Roosevelt is not only trying to prove her credibility, but she is encouraging the reader that the Declaration is better than what the Soviets