This paper explores the rhetorical basis of a major paradigm change in meteorology, from a focus on inductive observation to deductive, mathematical reasoning. Analysis of Cleveland Abbe's "The Physical Basis of Long-Range Weather Forecasts" demonstrates how in his advocacy for a new paradigm, Abbe navigates the tension between piety to tradition…

Through its analysis of the rhetorical means by which the US Congress overcame jurisdictional objections to federal action on the issue of woman suffrage, this essay argues that the stasis of jurisdiction operates as a mode of assemblage of discourses, institutions, and populations. In Congress, the woman suffrage issue helped re-organize federal…

Though the drive to limit US citizenship often takes shape through the symbolic and material exclusion of "aliens," immigrants also engage in rhetorical struggles over the limits of the US civic imaginary. This essay examines one such challenge to the bordering logics of US citizenship--"La Gran Marcha", one of the largest…

On May 31, 1897, William James, one of America's most influential philosophers and psychologists, delivered the first civic oration of his career. The principal orator at the dedication of the Robert Gould Shaw memorial in Boston, James did what commemorative speakers are not supposed to do. He chose to be confrontational and divisive in a…

The mainstream press frequently characterized the election of President Barack Obama, the first African American US President, as the realization of Martin Luther King's dream, thus crafting a postracial narrative of national transcendence. I argue that this routine characterization of Obama's election functions as a site for the production of…

Suggests that Franklin Delano Roosevelt's First Inaugural Address is an example of a speech using metaphor to transcend a recurring rhetorical problem. Shows how Roosevelt merged two metaphoric clusters, religious and military, into the image of "Holy War," first to calm, then activate the American people. (SR)

Demonstrates the importance of extra-legal texts in contextualizing and challenging judicial authority by analyzing Black Abolitionist responses to "Scott v. Sandford" (the "Dred Scott" decision). Concludes that responses to Dred Scott demonstrate how legally excluded classes may persuasively challenge constitutional authority…

Shows how the rhetoric of selected woman humorists from 1820 to 1880 exemplifies the operation of various comic literary reference frames. Asserts that their comic frame disintegrated because these writers were unable to foster identification between females and males and failed to provide a world view that could accommodate social change. (MM)

Explains the "Truman Doctrine" speech within the context of Truman's presidential speaking during his first two years in office. Explores the philosophical and psychological factors underlying Truman's reticence to comment on deteriorating U.S.--U.S.S.R. relations. Concludes that Truman failed at the central task of the rhetorical…

Examines the "Promiscuous Audience" charge against activist women in the 1830s--its emergence, persuasive force, motivations, and responses to it. Shows how, in establishing their right to speak from public platforms, activist women did not rely on natural law or Constitutional appeals, but rather emphasized the special nature of female…