RHE: Lesson - Rhetoric Before 1800

A writer uses a feathered quill to write a letterRhetoric Before 1800

As you’ve seen, rhetoric has changed over the course of centuries. Early Greek rhetoric and the rhetoric of Shakespeare’s time were quite different from the rhetoric of the 1700s and 1800s. However, in 1700s and 1800s America, rhetoric took on a decisively political tone. The divine right of kings has often been used as the philosophical underpinning of authority. In best-case scenarios, the social hierarchy entailed a sense of noblesse oblige, which acted as a social contract between the rich and the poor. Through noblesse oblige, the rich were morally compelled to support the poor through charity. 

Very often, this absolute power led to despotism and tyranny. The United States was founded in reaction to this authority. The Enlightenment offered an alternative notion of the inherent rights of man, and this guided our founding fathers' conception of a new republic. As you progress through the following documents, think of yourself as an active participant in American democracy. Obviously, we participate as citizens by voting, but the right to freedom of speech implies responsibility as well. Thus, rhetoric is an important tool in our rich democratic history.

The 18th Century

The Declaration of Independence offers the culmination of a movement that valued freedom over royal authority. Establishing a state to protect freedom and individual liberties was a monumental task that is still a work in progress. The abstraction of freedom is fraught with contradiction when placed in the context of a social setting. Note how the rhetoric of The Declaration of Independence closely follows the rhetoric of speech we have studied.

A photo showing the text of the declaration of independence. Transcript follows
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed..."

In the opening of this treatise, Thomas Jefferson is walking a fine line between divine rights and the rule of law. Note that he acknowledges men must create laws to govern themselves, but he also reconstructs the role of "the Creator" as the designer of individual rights (as opposed to the source of a king's power). In a very real sense, language and rhetoric created our nation.

A statue of Abigail Adams in Massachusetts.

Abstractions and Contradictions in the Declaration of Independence

As we know from history, the abstract notions so eloquently devised in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution did not function properly in practice. The phrase "all men are created equal" stood in stark contrast to the nation's dependence on slave labor, which southerners euphemistically referred to as the peculiar institution. The Declaration also ignored half of the population: women. Abigail Adams (her statue is pictured to the left) wrote to her husband, the eventual second President of the United States, four months before The Declaration of Independence was published:

"Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice or Representation."
Abigail Adams to John Adams - March 1776

Reading Assignment: The Declaration of Independence

Please download a copy of the Declaration of Independence Links to an external site.. As you read it, note the important rhetorical strategies used.

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Statue of Abigail Adams photo credit: Rosemarie Mosteller