Problem

Write a 600 to 800-word, five-paragraph expository essay comparing the ways in which President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech address the theme of American democracy. Explain their similarities and differences in terms of their views on this theme. How are their views revealed through rhetoric or their use of language? What does the evidence each speech presents say about this theme and about the nation in which they were written? How does each speech view American democracy differently?

In this essay, devote one body paragraph to a discussion of each of the three major rhetorical devices: ethos, pathos, and logos, comparing the way each device is used by both authors to build on his individual take on the theme of American democracy.