New Rhetorical Analysis Essay

At the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, Northerners debated if they should include

and recruit African-American soldiers into the military. Wendell Phillips, a white, American

abolitionist wrote a speech praising the Haitian general, Toussaint-Louverture, for his strong

military achievements. In the excerpt from Phillips’ speech, Phillips uses strong diction and a

lengthy metaphor to help convince the Northerners that they should allow African-Americans to

participate in their military, and uses Toussaint-Louverture as a well-organized example.

In the first paragraph of the excerpt, Phillips mentions that during his time, most people

did not know Toussaint-Louverture, and that the majority of information that regarded him came

“from the lips of his enemies” (Phillips 1-14). Throughout the speech, Phillips compares

Toussaint-Louverture to Oliver Cromwell, an English political leader known for his fantastic

military skills. The two men are compared to each other in a large metaphor that in the

beginning, states that Cromwell is a strong leader but did not achieve nearly the amount of

success that Toussaint-Louverture did in his time. As Phillips says in his speech, “We measure

genius by quality, not by quantity…” (Phillips 2-26). A person such as a general can lead his

army to hundreds of battle victories, but if another general wins a battle that wins a war, then he

is considered a genius because of the quality of his accomplishment.

In the excerpt from Phillips’ speech, the author uses strong diction and a powerful

metaphor between two strong, powerful military men who led their armies to great

achievements. Phillips uses this speech to praise Toussaint-Louverture and show that the quality

of his achievements are greater than any other leader, as he held his own against the British,

French, and Spanish armies. He shall become remembered as a historical leader in African-

American history.