Banneker's Letter and Analogy

Benjamin Banneker's Letter to Thomas Jefferson

Read the following excerpt of a l791 letter Benjamin Banneker wrote to European American leader Thomas Jefferson, who, though in theory opposed to slavery, himself owned slaves and accepted a U.S. Constitution that allowed slavery. While reading it, try to find the analogy (comparison of two sets of relationships) Banneker is making.

"Suffer me to recall to your mind that time, in which the arms of the British crown were exerted, with every powerful effort, in order to reduce you to a state of servitude; look back, I entreat you.... You were then impressed with proper ideas of the great violation of liberty, and the free possession of those blessings, to which you were entitled by nature; but sir, how pitiable is it to reflect, that although you were so fully convinced of the benevolence of the Father of Mankind, and his equal and impartial distribution of these rights and privileges which he hath conferred upon them, that you should at the same time counteract his mercies, in detaining by fraud and violence, so numerous a part of my brethren under groaning captivity and cruel oppression, that you should at the same time be found guilty of that most criminal act, which you professedly detested in others."

Directions: Banneker writes in a 1790 style that is very different from the style in which most of us write today. Take Banneker's letter and break it down into phrases (i.e, "suffer me to recall to your mind that time") and try to express what he is saying in words that would be understood by teenagers today (i.e, "please allow me to remind you of the time"). Write your reworded Banneker letter to Thomas Jefferson on a separate piece of paper.

Banneker's Analogy

Directions: Now go back and reflect on what you have written. Banneker is making an analogy using four groups of people (An analogy is a comparison between two sets of relationships or four things ... for example one analogy is "a paddle is to a canoe as a motor is to a ship".)

Fill in the blanks for Banneker's analogy below.

________________________ curb the liberty of ________________________ as

_________________________ curbed the liberty of ______________________.

Excerpted from Multicultural Activities for the American History Classroom.

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