The use of political rhetoric in the American politics has a historical background. Since the ancient times, the advocates of change have used it to bring the American public together for a common cause. The choice and timing of the words used are essential to bring out the intended message to the audience. The success of political rhetoric in persuading the audience not only lies in the contents of the political message but also in the delivery of the message to the audience. Political rhetoric is valuable in influencing public opinion and shaping historical events. Tom Paine’s Common Sense, the Virginia Declaration of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Federalist Papers were documents that changed the public opinion in a tremendous way through their use of political rhetoric and successfully persuaded the American colonists to support the revolution against the British.
Political rhetoric is the use of persuasive language and psychological tools to sway the public opinion to the desired direction by players in the political scene. The politicians make use of features of classical rhetoric to present themselves to their audience in a way that evokes support. Political rhetoric involves the use of rhetoric techniques such as confusion, omission and logic to present their ideas to the political audience or to poke holes to the ideas of their adversaries. In so doing, they present themselves as the suitable candidates for the job while at the same time presenting their political enemies as inexperienced and incapable of delivering quality leadership. Either way, political rhetoric has been an essential tool in the shaping of the public opinion in the political scene for ages.
There are two forms of political rhetoric, each designed to appeal a certain class of political audience. The first form of political rhetoric is conservative political rhetoric. Conservative political rhetoric is a collection of politically persuasive rhetoric techniques that advocate for satisfaction or contentment with the current affair in the political scene: defending the status quo. This is commonly used political theatrics involving the invocation of patriotism or convincing the haves in the society. Those in power mostly use this form of political rhetoric to protect what they have and avoid change that might compromise their authority.
On the other side, the alternative form of political rhetoric is progressive or liberal political rhetoric. This is a collection of political rhetoric techniques geared towards the changing the current political order. It invokes public discontentment with the current political class by portraying its ineptitude and bias. The political players who use liberal political rhetoric are the opposition. They promise equality, hopes and a brighter future by endeavoring to replace the current defective system with a new representative and fair system. The use of political rhetoric in the shaping o the American political scene through its impact to the public opinion is historical. The effective use of political rhetoric to influence the public opinion is responsible for a multitude of historical political milestones.
One classical effective use of political rhetoric was the Common Sense publication by Tom Paine in January 10 1776. The publication, written in simple language that every common American citizen could identify with, strongly disputed the legitimacy and moral standing of the British colonial government and encouraged the Americans to seek freedom from the British. By use of biblical allegory, Thomas Paine presented the idea of natural rights, national unity and the need to struggle for independence in his publication (Gerwin). The publication shifted the cause of the patriot movement from advocating for reform within the existing monarchical system to seeking complete independence from the British colonial system (Gerwin).
Paine used progressive political rhetoric to blame all the problems that the Americans were going through in the colonial times to the British colonial government. Through its use of blunt language, biblical reference and perfect timing of the presentation of the call for independence, Paine was able to change drastically the public opinion on the monarchical colonial government (Gerwin). He presented the king as a person thirsty for power by graphically displaying the bloody hereditary contests for the kingdom. Using logic, Paine fuelled public anger in the masses with the current system and lit the flame of revolt. He asserted that if indeed Britain was America’s mother country, then her actions were brutal because no mother would treat he children in the way that Britain treated America.
Another classical case of the effective use of political rhetoric was the Virginia declaration of rights drafted in 1776. The first three articles in the declaration asserted that all members of the human race had equal rights from creation (McClymer). The second, third and fourth articles argued that the power of the government was in the people rather than in the few members of the political class. The declaration rejected the monarchical system of government and proposed an elective and democratic form of government. The Virginia declaration of rights successfully used progressive political rhetoric to present the monarchical government as a defective form of government to the people. It provided the solution through the democratic elections to heal the society from the ills of such a government (McClymer).
The Virginia declaration of rights was successful since major legislations, both in the United States of America and beyond borders, trace to it. One of documents tracing to it is the Declaration of Independence. The declaration of independence is a richly crafted paper with political prose that oozes with a lot of political rhetoric. Drafted in 1776 to signify the independence of the 13 colonies from British rule, the main aim of the declaration of independence was to rally the international audience to support their cause. Using logic, the declaration of independence convinces the international audience of the reason the United States wanted independence from the British. The declaration stated that all people had equal rights from creation and the aim of governments was to protect these rights. The governments had to seek consent from those governed. This way, the declaration was successful in appealing to the emotions of the audience through reason, a major component of political rhetoric.
The Federalist Papers constitute one of the most important milestones in the constitution of the United States. They were a collection of 85 essays authored between 1787 and 1788 by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison. Their main aim was to persuade the American citizens in New York to adopt the proposed constitution through informing the public on what the constitution meant for them. Using rhetorical tools including, realistic reasoning, metaphors and emotional responses especially those arising from the America’s revolutionary experience, the authors successfully facilitated the ratification of the constitution in July 1788 (Coenen, 473). The federalist papers convinced the citizens to elect delegates who would represent them in the convention for the ratification of the constitution and support the proposed constitution (Coenen, 472-473).
Political persuasion is a painstaking activity that requires the careful intertwining of reason, moral ethics and psychological insight to change the opinion of the public. The main aim of political rhetoric is not to make the audience to make a choice but rather to agree with the ideas presented b the speaker. While some of those ideas may not be factually appropriate, the use of appeal to the emotions, the reasoning of the audience and the projection of a trustworthy image of the speaker are essential to sway the opinion of the public to the desired direction. Tom Paine’s Common Sense, the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the Declaration of Independence united the Americans for a common cause, seeking total independence from the British, through successful persuasion by political rhetoric techniques. These documents led to the birth of the American Revolution and the consequent independence from the British system. In addition to this, the federalist papers also applied political rhetoric techniques to rally support for the proposed constitution and eventually led to the ratification of the constitution in July 1788. Therefore, political rhetoric is a valuable tool in achieving change in the society through philosophically structured persuasion techniques.
Works Cited
Burgoyne, Tim. Declaration of Independence Analyzed Rhetorically. 2012. 7 October 2014 <http://sites.psu.edu/tcb5173/2012/10/04/declaration-of-independence-analysed-rhetorically/>.
Coenen, Dan T. " A Rhetoric for Ratification: The Argument of The Federalist and Its Impact on Constitutional Implimentation." DUKE LAW JOURNAL (2006): 469-543.
David Gerwin, Avram Barlowe, Pennee Bender. Common Sense: The Rhetoric of Popular Democracy. 2014. 7 October 2014 <http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/common-sense-rhetoric-popular-democracy>.
Dr. John McClymer, Dr Lucia Knoles, Dr. Arnold Pulda. The E Pluribus Unum Project: The Rhetoric of Rights, Americans are "Englishmen" and Englishmen Have Constitutional Rights. 2014. 7 October 2014 <http://www1.assumption.edu/ahc/1770s/coreconstitution.html>.
Ushistory.org. Common Sense by Thomas Paine. 2014. 7 October 2014 <http://www.ushistory.org/paine/commonsense/singlehtml.htm>.
