America's Rhetorical Revolution: Defining Citizens in Benjamin Rush's Philadelphia, 1783--1812
This is a study of the creation of a distinctly American citizenship during the Early Republic. By focusing on Philadelphia, and by examining Benjamin Rush's institutions and the dialogues that he engaged in, I argue that the foundations of American citizenship produced the possibility of an inclusive nation. Indeed, over the course of American history women, African Americans, and White workingmen have ultimately been incorporated into democratic deliberations. This dissertation discovers the origins of inclusiveness by studying America's rhetorical revolution, a period when words were redefined, when institutions created rhetors who could speak truth to power, and when a new constitutional and legal framework encouraged women, African Americans, and White workingmen to defend their rights, not through violent protest, but rather through rhetorical deliberations.
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign