Question

Read this excerpt from Frederick Douglass’s speech “The Hypocrisy of American Slavery.”

Fellow citizens, pardon me, and 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?

What effect is achieved by using a series of questions in this speech?

A. It conveys a sense of wonderment about the tenets of the Declaration of Independence.

B.It gets the audience to start thinking about whether the Declaration of Independence was beneficial for the slaves.

C.It makes the audience begin to resent the policies and practices of the US government.

D.It creates a parallel structure intended to urge the audience to protest against the Declaration of Independence.

Answer 1

It makes the audience begin to resent the policies and practices of the US government.

Answer 2

I believe the correct answer is: B. It gets the audience to start thinking about whether the Declaration of Independence was beneficial for the slaves.

In this excerpt from speech “The Hypocrisy of American Slavery” delivered by Frederick Douglass, former slave and abolitionist leader, on July 4, 1852, the effect achieved by using a series of questions is to make audience think about whether the Declaration of Independence was beneficial for the slaves.

The types of questions used in this speech are called a rhetorical question, which represent the figure of speech in the form of a question that is asked to make a point rather than to elicit an answer. The proof that these questions make a point, rather than licit the answer, is the fact that Douglass says: “that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions, then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful”, meaning that he does not ask of the an answer, but to give thought about whether the Declaration of Independence was beneficial for the slaves.