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Similarities Between Rhetoric And Reality

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Rhetoric and Reality
What is rhetoric? Rhetoric is often defined as “the art or skill of speaking or writing formally and effectively especially as a way to persuade or influence people” (Meriam Webster). Rhetoric can be an idea; a motivation; an art. What is reality? Reality is, “the true situation that exists” (Meriam Webster). Reality is now; true; actual. What do these two concepts have in common? Both rhetoric and reality played an important role in the American Revolution. The ideas and rhetoric of the early Americans were powerful tools. They could, and did, change the course of the future. What many historians disagree on, however, was if their rhetoric was relevant for the reality. In Gordon S. Wood’s article “Rhetoric and Reality …show more content…

Rhetoric was a necessary tool. Inserted in papers, pamphlets, and articles, these ideas and stories and modes of persuasion pushed the Americans to a Revolution. “All of these notions were neither manipulated propaganda nor borrowed empty abstractions, but ideas with real personal and social significance for those who used them” (Wood 31). The ideas were meaningful, not just rumors and gossip. Not only were they meaningful, but they were relevant. The reality during the time was tyranny; liberties being destroyed; rules being broken; people treated unfairly. What better time was it for such meaningful ideas to come forth? “American exceptionalism refers to qualities that were first observed in the opening century of our history” (Murray 6). Throughout this article, Gordon Wood undoubtedly believes that this rhetoric the Americans possessed was a very exceptional trait. While this rhetoric was exceptional over 200 years ago, sadly it has not remained. Our rhetoric and modes of persuasion today are twisted, manipulated, and mostly propaganda. Our reality today is much different than the reality during the Revolution. However, we still need true, strong, influential rhetoric. If we want a revival in our country, we need ideas. Ideas with relevance and inspiration; just like the Revolution. Samuel Williams wrote in 1794 concerning the early American establishments, “everything tended to produce, and to establish the spirit of freedom” (Williams vii). Is this true today? Perhaps if we take the time to learn about our history, we will learn how to apply those powerful tools of the past. And maybe then, we will have an exceptional future, just like our exceptional

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Throughout the annals of American history, the advocation for freedom, and the absorption of ideals such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness have been at the forefront of the American belief. These beliefs were implemented in 1776, through the Declaration of Independence. This document was ratified by recalcitrant Americans who would not tolerate subjection to tyrannical rule. The American people hoped this document would seal their fate in relation to Europe, and prove to Europe, and frankly the entire world, that they were a separate, sufficient nation. But as the years unfolded, the realization that America would continue to be considered an inferior nation arose.

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Jay Heinrichs beautifully transforms these approaches to rhetoric into a way that make sense today. From examples using celebrities, political powers, humor, and intellectual banter, Heinrichs truly encompasses the real art of persuasion in a way that complies with modern times, therefore proving the books continued use without a

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In Thomas Paine’s pamphlet he uses a great emotional appeal to convince the colonists that fighting back is the right is the right thing to do. Patrick Henry’s speech has many instances where he uses rhetorical questions to point out the wrongs of the British king and prove that war is the only point. Common Sense and “ Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” no doubtedly helped shape the American

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In Thomas Paine’s piece, “The American Crisis”, he uses stylistic and persuasive elements to inspire the soldiers of the American revolution. Tone has a very key role in Paine’s attempt to persuade the men. Words such as passionate, direct, and self-assured can be used to describe the piece. Right from the start Paine is direct with what the tone of the piece will be; “these are the times that try men’s souls.” (98).

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Despite Thomas Paine’s numerous contributions to the world, he is often overshadowed by John Locke, the so-called father of democracy. However, by modifying the public’s understanding of Locke, Paine altered the character and destiny of both American and World History. Thomas Paine’s ideas and efforts inspired and focused the American Revolution; he provided the colonists with the ideals and courage needed for the founding of a new nation. In his efforts to unite and direct the colonists, Paine created what may have been one of his greatest phrases: The United States of America. He provided Americans and Europeans with the rational thought, inspiration, and confidence to reject outmoded social and political structures of the past and the courage to implement ideals of freedom, equality, and human rights to provide a better future for mankind.

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In the year of 1776, when the founding fathers confirmed their commitment to the inalienable rights of life and liberty, they opted to ignore the question of how slavery would piece into those newfangled ideals. Eventually, however, it became impossible to ignore the blatant violations of humanity in a country that was founded upon the principles of freedom. Tensions between the oppressive South and the opposing North rose to a point that the nation had become one that was divided against itself and threatened to break apart. The response to this national crisis was a revolutionary new type of literature with the objective of overthrowing slavery. The authors of these anti-slavery texts used logical, ethical and emotional rhetoric to confront their audiences with the cruelty and destructiveness of

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Throughout the annals of American history, the advocation for freedom, and the absorption of ideals such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness have been at the forefront of the American belief. These beliefs were implemented in 1776 through the Declaration of Independence. This document was ratified by recalcitrant Americans who would not tolerate subjection to tyrannical rule. The American people hoped this document would seal their fate in relation to Europe, and prove to them, and frankly the entire world, that they were a separate, sufficient nation. But as the years unfolded, the realization that America would continue to be considered an inferior nation arose.

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In contrast to the literature of the Colonial Period, much of the writing of the eighteenth century was devoted to a single overwhelming subject—the American Revolution. During that time, as words became weapons, Patrick Henry’s “Speech in the Virginia Convention,” Thomas Jefferson’s document, The Declaration of Independence, and Thomas Paine’s “Crisis I” pamphlet stand as three influential documents that called for armed defense of the basic rights that the previous generation had sought to define and establish. Patrick Henry’s “Speech in the Virginia Convention” strongly advocates for the assumption of a defensive position against the British in Virginia through significant use of emotion and appeals to logic, thereby endorsing the defense

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Reals of Slavery The powerful rhetoric, through purposeful words, anecdotes, and details show how they influence America to see the evils of slavery. The evils of slavery demonstrate how the slaves were whipped and shows this with rhetoric words in his autobiography “Frederick Douglass”. Powerful rhetoric helps Douglass influence for the abolitionist movement. Douglass uses powerful words to show the evils of slavery for the abolitionist movement.

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Pulitzer Prize winning author and historian Gordon S. Wood published his work The Radicalism of the American Revolution in 1991. In this book, he argues that, contrary to popular belief, the American Revolution was a socio-politically radical event. Wood describes various factors and outcomes that evidence the Revolution’s radicalism, and how it was the most far-reaching event of American history. In his thesis, he conveys that the Revolution’s radical influence on society has generally been disregarded by historians, that radicalism is defined by shifts in people’s relationships, that the Revolution sought societal change through political reform, and that it was the most influential and radical factor in creating a liberal, modern America.

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In the winter of 1776, during American Revolution, the still young America faced three major dilemmas: their seemingly imminent defeat, the moral debate between the Whigs and the British loyalists, and the panic and confusion of the American public. In efforts to settle the three American dilemmas, Thomas Paine wrote The Crisis No. 1 in December of 1776. In his work, Paine aimed to calm the American public and convince them to stand up to the British, and turn the war into an American victory. Paine was very successful in this, and his paper was proclaimed as one of the most persuasive works of the American Revolution. Paine’s

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The 1700’s was an age filled with revolutionary thinking considered groundbreaking and preposterous at the time. The entire century itself was filled to the brim with new ideas and thoughts being expressed to the public through literary pieces still widely praised today, one of the most well known of these being Thomas Paine’s Common Sense. You may ask, “How can an entire century or society already busy with the settling of the New World and the eventual Revolution, contain such pieces of literature, and the ideas that were written within them?” The answer, the ideas and thoughts that society today calls ‘revolutionary’ weren’t originally accepted, but rejected. The changes suggested by these writings, changes that would later occur, were not

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In his document, The Crisis, Number 1, Thomas Paine argues that the American colonists should go and fight for the freedom that they want. Thomas Paine supports this cause by explaining to the colonists that they should have that same mind set no matter what it is. Paine’s purpose is to persuade with emotion in order to get the colonists to feel the need to go and fight for the freedom of the developing country against the British. Thomas Paine uses a formal tone to engage with the emotions of the colonists using rhetorical devices. Paine in his writing likes to use a lot of charged words throughout his writing.

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Would there be an America if people were not able to persuade others? During a time when America is in a war against the British fighting for its independence and had lost every battle except for one during the first year of the war, fearing that the idea of America may fail. Thomas Paine then publishes a pamphlet called The Crisis, No. 1. Regarding this, pathos was the most persuasive technique used to persuade Americans to continue on with the war in Thomas Paine’s The Crisis, No. 1.

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