Hunter Sellier

Mrs. Tatum

AP Lang 4th period

11 December, 2019

Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Toussaint-Louverture, a former slave who helped many other enslaved African

Americans on their way to the ability to live free lives, is well deserving of the praise given by

Wendell Phillips in his speech delivered near the beginning of the civil war. Occurring in 1861,

this was a time at when decisions were being made whether African Americans had the freedoms

to serve in the military, so in Phillip’s speech, through imagery, comparison, and cause and

effect, he explains the reasoning behind why Toussaint-Louverture was such an incredible and

inspiring leader. While using an optimistic tone, Phillips gives a powerful and moving speech on

the impact of Louverture for the lives of African Americans.

While using descriptive imagery such as: “rich enough to paint the great captain of the

19th century” (34), Phillips paints an image of Louverture’s accomplishments in fighting for

rights of African Americans. These images give the audience a picture of the importance of this

persistence during this time period, and adds to the claim that Louverture made great

accomplishments during his lifetime to help other people as well as himself. Phillips also

includes a comparison of Louverture’s accomplishments to other “greats” in “I would call him

Cromwell, but Cromwell was only a soldier” (27-28). This goes on bout who he could be

compared too, but repeats the statement that in the end Louverture created more of an impact

than these other important leaders. Along with the comparison, Phillips alleles to more great
leaders and creates analogies between the, and the areas they impacted “In Ampedera for

England, Fayette for France” (37-38) and the list goes on. The audience is able to recall their

knowledge of history during wars, treaties, and battles, to compare the accomplishments of one

to another. Not only can the audience relate due to what they may already know or have been

taught, they seem to be on the same page as the author in the sense that many of these “greats”

made enough of an impact to be remembered to this day, which is the point that Phillips is trying

to get across.

In order to truly praise Toussaint-Louverture, Wendell Phillips helps the audience to

relate and recall knowledge to understand the greatness that Louverture posesses, and how his

accomplishments ranked along with other “greats”. By not only sharing Louvertures

accomplishments, but describing them with such impactful imagery, Phillips creates an

extraordinary image of Toussant-Louverture to share with the audience.