Gettysburg Address

Abraham Lincoln. 1863

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it as a final resting place for those who died here that the nation might live. This we may, in all propriety do. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have hallowed it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

It is rather for us the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

Ain't I a Woman?

Sojourner Truth, 1851

Well, children, where there is so much racket, there must be something out of kilter, I think between the Negroes of the South and the women of the North all talking about rights the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all this talking about?

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody helps me any best place. And ain't I a woman?

Look at me! Look at my arm. I have plowed, I have planted and I have gathered into barns. And no man could head me. And ain't I a woman?

I could work as much, and eat as much as man—when I could get it—and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne children and seen most of them sold into slavery, and when I cried out with a mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me. And ain't I a woman? . . .

That little man in black there! He says women can't have as much rights as men. ‘Cause Christ wasn't a woman.

Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a Woman! Man had nothing to do with him!

If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back and get it right-side up again. And now that they are asking to do it the men better let them.

I Have a Dream

Martin Luther King, 1963

. . . . I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification"—one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together” . . .

Rhetorical Analysis

Rhetorical analysis often focuses on the elements of argument: claims, evidence, and assumptions. Arguments are often abbreviated into enthymemes when authors and readers share common assumptions. Analyses of commonplace assumptions or topoi explore how groups draw on received values to address changing situations to achieve shared purposes. As such rhetorical analysis examines the practical uses of values.

Rhetorical analysis can help students reflect upon their own assumptions. One of the oldest ways to learn rhetoric is to argue for and against a position. This method was used to help students assess the weaknesses in their thinking and anticipate counterarguments. More than just a means to win, this method can help foster reflections on why one thinks as one does.

Such analyses contribute to humanistic education by helping people think through the experiences, assumptions, and purposes of others. Rhetorical analysis shifts the focus from what to how--from what happened to how an action or argument arises from a set of experiences that led these people to think in these ways and assume these outcomes would follow from these acts. This sort of analysis often begins with the historical experiences of others, then examines how those experiences are represented in texts, and concludes by reflecting on what purposes are served by taking that approach. Such analyses can help us understand the experiences, beliefs and purposes of others, which can help us to reflect before acting and reacting.

Address to Congress

George W. Bush, Sept. 20, 2001

. . . .Americans are asking, why do they hate us?They hate what we see right here in this chamber—a democratically elected government.Their leaders are self-appointed.They hate our freedoms—our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other.

They want to overthrow existing governments in many Muslim countries, such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. They want to drive Israel out of the Middle East.They want to drive Christians and Jews out of vast regions of Asia and Africa.

These terrorists kill not merely to end lives, but to disrupt and end a way of life.With every atrocity, they hope that America grows fearful, retreating from the world and forsaking our friends. They stand against us, because we stand in their way. . .

This is not, however, just America's fight.And what is at stake is not just America's freedom.This is the world's fight. This is civilization's fight. This is the fight of all who believe in progress and pluralism, tolerance and freedom.. . The civilized world is rallying to America's side.They understand that if this terror goes unpunished, their own cities, their own citizens may be next.Terror, unanswered, can not only bring down buildings, it can threaten the stability of legitimate governments. And you know what—we're not going to allow it. . . .

Fellow citizens, we'll meet violence with patient justice –assured of the rightness of our cause, and confident of the victories to come.In all that lies before us, may God grant us wisdom, and may He watch over the United States of America.

Bin Laden Interview

With Tayseer Alouni. February 2002

The events of Tuesday, September the 11th, in New York and Washington are great on all levels. . . . The events proved the extent of terrorism that America exercises in the world. Bush stated that the world has to be divided in two: Bush and his supporters, and any country that doesn't get into the global crusade is with the terrorists. What terrorism is clearer than this? Many governments were forced to support this "new terrorism." They had to go along with this although they knew that we are defending our brothers and defending our sacred values. Many Western and Eastern leaders have said that the true roots of terrorism should be dealt with; they meant the Palestinian cause. . . .

The killing of innocent civilians, as America and some intellectuals claim, is really very strange talk. Who said that our children and civilians are not innocent and that shedding their blood is justified? That it is lesser in degree? When we kill their innocents, the entire world from east to west screams at us, and America rallies its allies, agents, and the sons of its agents. Who said that our blood is not blood, but theirs is? Who made this pronouncement? Who has been getting killed in our countries for decades? More than 1 million children, more than 1 million children died in Iraq and others are still dying. . . .

Our goal is for our nation to unite in the face of the Christian crusade. This is the fiercest battle. Muslims have never faced anything bigger than this. Bush said it in his own words: "crusade." When Bush says that, they try to cover up for him, then he said he didn't mean it. He said "crusade." Bush divided the world into two: "either with us or with terrorism."

Audience, Situation, and Purpose in TeachingWriting

In The University of Arizona Writing Program, we use rhetorical analysis to connect close reading, critical thinking, and writing for a purpose. Writing makes learning visible. Thinking about writing as a problem-solving process enables us to create opportunities for collaborative inquiries into how authors achieve their purposes with a particular audience in a specific situation. Analyses of how authors achieve their purposes can help students develop strategies for addressing audiences and situations quite different from those faced in composition classes.

The elements of the rhetorical situationare

1. audience 2. topic

3. author4. text

These elements can be used to characterize

the purposes of discourse

1. persuasive3. self-expressive

2. informative4. and literary

and rhetorical strategies

1. emotional appeals3. ethical appeals

2. logical appeals4. stylistic appeals


Rhetoricis not a four letter word

Thomas P. Miller

Because there has been implanted in us the power to persuade and to make clear to each other what we desire, we have escaped the life of beasts, and come together to found cities and invent arts. There is no institution that the power of speech has not helped to establish.

Isocrates, Antidosis, 353 BCE

Isocrates was a principal founder of the liberal arts tradition, but it wasAristotle who first defined rhetoric as the art of discovering the available means of persuasion in a particular situation. Civic humanists such as Isocrates, Aristotle, and Cicero argued that rhetorical studies taught citizens to draw upon received beliefs to address changing situations to achieve shared purposes. Rhetoric is

In recent decades rhetorict has become part of many graduate programs in English. While it remains marginal in most undergraduate majors, it is often paired with composition inthe only required courses in thecurriculum. Rhetoric has traditionally been centralto the humanities because it has been assumed that it can prepare citizens to speak persuasively to public controversies. This assumption provides a civic alternative to the vocational attitudes that have undercut the practical values of the humanities.