The speech, “I Have a Dream,” by Martin Luther King Junior, was directed towards hundreds of thousands, addressing the serious matter of equality amongst all the races to point. In order to invoke certain connections to the audience, King uses rhetorical devices. All of which can be grouped into the three main groups, ethos, pathos, and logos.

Firstly, King builds the trust of the audience by adding credibility, through the process of ethos. Add Sent.- The first such allusion was a reference to the Emancipation Proclamation. In which King states,“ signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice.” This helps the audience/reader gain a sense of King’s background knowledge of the subject. Another example of such an allusion is brought forth from the Bible, in which King includes the line, “No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.” The …show more content…
He does so through logical statements, or logos. King brings this to attention by using repetition of freedom and equality, and references how what once was written has not come into play. He states, “It would be fatal for the Nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. “ By doing so he brings up the point that freedom and equality are the end goal, and that it is not just something that they can skip over, that it needs to be addressed. Another example is the remark, “‘we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.’” King makes this reference to The Declaration of Independence in order to show that it has been written that all men are created equal, and yet they still need to reach for