Albert Beveridge March Of The Flag Speech Analysis

Fallacies are made in various arguments and speeches throughout history, in order to win an argument. In The march of the flag, given by Albert J. Beveridge, there are fallacies detected throughout the speech. Fallacies are incorporated throughout the speech in order to have the audience agree with Beveridge’s views on the superiority of white Christian Americans compared to other citizens in other countries who practice other religions and worship deities.

In the opening of the speech, Beveridge addresses the audience and tells of how the land that God has given us is noble. He speaks to fellow citizens of “It is a noble land that God has given us ;a land that can feed and clothe the world; a land whose coast lines would inclose half the …show more content…
conquest; he tells of his belief to listeners about how he believes that American citizens and soldiers are the victims who have been robbed of honor. He spoke “They shall not be robbed of the honor due them, nor shall the republic be robbed of what they won for their country.” Beveridge is shifting the burden of proof, instead of tells the history of what occurred during each battle and conquest, he rewrites history in his way that agrees with his beliefs. The worst deeds and atrocities that had occurred during and before the time of this speech have disappeared from historical accounts. In order to make the intentions and ideals of America appear innocent compared to the historical accounts of what had …show more content…
Beveridge says, “The opposition tells us that we ought not to govern a people without their consent.” He is attempting to make the opponent look ridiculous; he answers by saying “the rule of liberty that all government deprives its authority from the consent of the governed, applies only to those who are capable of self- government.” The opponents are found as a joke, in the sense that the governments are failing at democracy, to allow the people to govern the country. These governments are instead, looking at ruling for the people by setting laws that are harsh as well as with the possibility of being unnecessary. The citizens of America are finding the opponents as a joke; Beveridge made the opponents look ridiculous in order to capitalize on the fact that those who are white, Christian and American are God’s master race. The joke is set forth as a way to show American’s citizens that they are what matters and to relieve the audience from the responsibility to worry and think about subjects that would otherwise make them uncomfortable. Worrying about losing his argument when comparing his argument to the statement of another country, Beveridge is simply shifting the ground; instead of worrying about himself and the idea that he may lose the argument, he is shifting the ground and making generalizations about the opponents, by making the opponents look poorly in order to make Beveridge