Question

Read the excerpt from "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?"

Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?

Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold, that a nation’s sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolid and selfish, that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation’s jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the “lame man leap as an hart.”
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Which statement best describes why this excerpt contains an example of deductive reasoning?
a) It contains specific details that support a variety of different ideas.
b) It begins with broad statements and ends with more specific ones.
c) It uses clear examples that are easily understood by all readers.
d) It starts with a very simple idea and builds to a much grander idea.

Answer 1

The correct answer is: B. It begins with broad statements and ends with more specific ones.

Answer 2

The correct answer is B. It begins with broad statements and ends with more specific ones.

Step-by-step explanation:

In logic, deductive reasoning refers to the process of arguing something by beginning with a broad or general idea and then including more specific details based on the general idea. This can be seen in the excerpt from "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" as his author Frederick Douglass begins the text by stating rhetoric questions such as "Why am I called upon to speak here today? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence?" that are general questions and show Douglass has a critical position about the National Independence Day and after this the author goes to more specific ideas and question such as "For who is there so cold, that a nation’s sympathy could not warm him? " or "Who so stolid and selfish, that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation’s jubilee" that refer to specific points and reasons why the National Independence Day should not be celebrated. Therefore, this text shows deductive reasoning because it begins with broad statements and ends with more specific ones.