Using a Burkeian perspective, the authors focus on the six debates during the 1980 Republican primary debate. (PD)

Sketches a brief history of the 1858 debates and analyzes their argumentative patterns. Speculates about the transformation of controversial questions through public debate. (PD)

Demonstrates how the "Old Feminist" movement, originating in broad humanitarian concerns that affirmed woman's selfhood, eventually was transformed into the essentially different "Woman Suffrage" movement. Analyzes a key episode, the 1860 divorce debate. (PD)

Examines the role of parliamentary debate in the demise of the friendship between Fox and Burke over the issue of the French Revolution and English domestic reform. Investigates the drawing out of Fox's position and the polarization of opinion in Commons by Burke's rhetorical destruction of traditional Whig principles. (JMF)

Argues that the news media actively promoted presidential debates, sought to establish expectations, and then became active critics. Concludes that presidential skills were seen as more important than message content. Notes that the current format does not enlarge public understanding and suggests a Lincoln-Douglas format in the future. (PD)

Explores how argumentation in the eighteenth-century miracles controversy (a century-long debate in Britain over the reasonableness of revealed religion) exhibited a controlling concern for procedural considerations. Discusses how the Deists and the Orthodox apologists used their argumentative force to advance rival methods for evaluating miracle…