Rhetorical analysis on “Alexander Hamilton’s ‘The thing is a dream’ (June 1788” speech

Introduction

Alexander Hamilton’s historic speech, among other American Founding Father’s speeches, is increasingly receiving significant attention over the recent past. However, the recognition that the rhetoric of American founding Fathers receives could be more due to the fact that they are the closest history to when rhetoric made sense in contemporary drama. The sentiment does not, however, mean to ignore the immense contribution of the rhetoric speeches of the founding legislators in shaping American History. Of course, winning Independence, establishing the Union, and the creating of a functional system of government are all immense achievements that was results of speeches like Alexander Hamilton’s ‘the thing is a dream’ speech of 20th June 1788. Instead, the sentiments mean that modern literature has lost the need for rhetoric in construction of speech. Therefore, eroded the culture that our founding fathers build our society upon. Alexander Hamilton is one of the most celebrated Founding Fathers of American History because of his role in shaping the American economy the vast exploitable resources that America had. However, his “this thing is a dream” speech at the congress on 2Oth June 1788 is not remembered for his role in shaping the American economy but for the appeal and influence that it created. The address is one of the rhetoric actions that were thanked for the development of the American Constitution and independence. This analysis looks into the persuasive component s of Alexander Hamilton’s June 1788 political rhetoric that resulted to its influence and significance in rhetorical research and American history.

In definition, rhetoric refers to a technique in oral or written literature that is used by the source of the message to persuade but also involve his or her audience. It is a technique of drawing attention to the message more than the messenger himself and connecting to the appeal buds of the audience to have them throughout the speech. In essence, it is an art of telling the audience what they want to hear yet passing the intended message (Fatovic, 2013). However, in the 18th Century, American founders made the technique so significant that it meant persuasion according to specific rules rule. This elevated the Founding Father’s confidence and tendency in using the technique of language in their political arguments that formed some of the most significant and most constructive legislative discussions in American History. Alexander Hamilton’s June 1788 political rhetoric shows the use of the persuasive structures of ethos, pathos, and logos.

The persuasive ethos framework is grounded on the beliefs in the speaker’s reliability. Therefore, the speaker has to prove reliability in the source of information and relevance to the topic to effect. Alexander Hamilton’s speech demonstrates the use of ethos appellate structures by avoiding basing his argument before the house on pure knowledge and instead presenting his ideas as concerned only with matters of probability (McDonald, 2012). The speaker demonstrates the use of ethos appellate techniques by establishing his credibility by presenting his sentiments based on chance. This captured the attention of his immediate audience that included the opposing members that he seemed to address most. The speaker also established his knowledge of the source of information that he addressed by referring to the consequences that the opposition mentioned and his opinion of each of them.

The speaker also used appellate pathos techniques by capturing the emotions of his audience using his speech. The speaker speaks about the need for Americans to uphold their liberty since it is the only thing that protects their sovereignty. By touching o the freedom of the people, the Alexander Hamilton managed to appeal to the emotions of his audience and the entire American people as well, making his political rhetoric one of the greatest and most memorable speeches in American history (Hamilton, 1788). The logos appellate technique used by the speaker was also visible through the constructive arguments that he used. Alexander Hamilton was very constructive in the way he formed an argument and backed is the case. By asking every prudent man to consider the consequences of their actions and the plans they want to take in connection with the circumstances of the country, Alexander Hamilton showed the presence of logos appealing techniques in his speech.

Conclusion

The political rhetoric of our founding fathers is the modern-day authors treasure when it comes to rhetoric analysis. Alexander Hamilton’s speech provides an example of the founding father’s political rhetoric and exploits a wide range of rhetoric techniques. This article has provided a conclusive rhetoric analysis of the concept and utilized the available rhetoric techniques used in Alexander Hamilton’s speech.

Bibliography

Hamilton, A. (1788). First Speech of June 21. Teaching American History, https://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/alexander-hamilton-speech/.

Fatovic, C. (2013). Reason and Experience in Alexander Hamilton’s Science of Politics. American Political Thought, 2(1), 1-30.

McDonald, F. (2012). The Rhetoric of Alexander Hamilton. The Imaginative Conservative.