Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The democratic ethic that has dominated the intellectual history of the United States has shaped a rhetorical practice driven by the socio-cultural influence of the word. The result has been a rich multiplicity of voices that defy generalization, yet define a complex texture. The first rhetorical period, approximately the first century and a quarter of the presence of British settlement in North America, was dominated by religious rhetoric and specifically by the Puritans . Puritan sermons were highly structured, linking lessons from biblical text to everyday life. Puritans respected reason and viewed it as a gift from God that opened human insight into God's structuring of the universe. The democratic content of Puritan rhetoric was constrained. Beneath God, the minister was separated from others in the community by his trained role as the interpreter of the Word. Men and women were similarly differentiated by the biblical separation of gender. And finally the elect of the Puritan community were separated from non-believers. Within that narrowed but still broad slice of Puritan life, democratic equality defined access to power (→  Rhetoric and Religion ). As the eighteenth century proceeded, secular rhetorics began to grow in importance. In these rhetorics can be heard two voices: democratic pragmatism and radical reform. Secular institutions of governance developed with an ... log in or subscribe to read full text