Progymnasmata 2

Question: Should the United States have passed the thirteenth amendment?
When I picked this question for this exercise I did not really think out how hard and touchy of a subject it would be to write a confirmation and refutation on the rightness or wrongness of the passing of the thirteenth amendment, it was just a famous event that came to mind. I decided to go ahead to try and do it though because it was a challenge. I did my best to look at it and articulate it from a totally logical “rhetorical” sense and I promise I was not trying to offend anyone :)



Confirmation:
Assertion to be confirmed: The United States was right to pass the thirteenth amendment.
Encomium: Passing of the thirteenth amendment that abolished slavery is a victory for not only The United States but humanity.
Exposition of the situation: Slavery, a practice of involuntary servitude, was abolished under the Lincoln administration on December 6th, 1865 under the thirteenth amendment. At the time of the amendment’s ratification the post civil war Union was still exceedingly divided on the issue of slavery. With somewhat fleeting faith in the effectiveness of the emancipation proclamation the thirteenth amendment sealed into the constitution the abolishment of Slavery.
Certainty: It had been universally established by the earlier abolishment of slavery in countries like England and France that slavery was an inhumane practice not to be tolerated.
Credibility: A worldwide consensus that slavery should be abolished very quickly became commonplace around the world and only further prompted the necessity for action in the United States to do the same.
Possibility: It is quite possible that if the thirteenth amendment had not been passed that slavery would have remained after the Civil War.
Consistency: The passing of the thirteenth amendment was consistent with Lincoln’s promise to abolish slavery.
Propriety: In the scope of world occasion the abolishment of slavery was well timed.
Convenience: The abolishment of slavery liberated not only an oppressed group of people, but an entire African and American culture.

Refutation-

False assertion to be refuted: The United States was right to pass the thirteenth amendment.
Exposition of the situation: Slavery, a practice of involuntary servitude, was abolished under the Lincoln administration on December 6th, 1865 under the thirteenth amendment. At the time of the amendment’s ratification the post civil war Union was still exceedingly divided on the issue of slavery. With somewhat fleeting faith in the effectiveness of the emancipation proclamation the thirteenth amendment sealed into the constitution the abolishment of Slavery.
Uncertainty: It is not certain that the abolishing of slavery and the freeing of slaves was either economically or socially a sound decision.
Incredibility: It hard to believe that freeing slaves but withholding almost all of their rights could be considered progressive.
Impossibility: It is impossible to conceive not only the economic damage but the damage done to the social structure of the United States that occurred due to the Abolishment of Slavery.
Inconsistency: In the United States the abolishment of slavery that created an outcaste socioeconomic class in the United States can hardly be considered consistent with the American vision of equality.
Impropriety: The time between the abolishment of slavery and when African Americans were liberated of racist legislation and Jim Crow laws, was a highly misguided and inappropriate.
Inconvenience: The poor living conditions and quality of life for Africans Americans after the thirteenth Amendment was passed was highly inconvenient for a large minority in the United States at the time.