Rhetorical Analysis Of Margaret Chase Smith's Declaration Of Conscience

Smith’s Urgent Declaration Throughout the 1950’s, a Red Scare movement caused mass panic among Americans, led by the Senate accusing innocent citizens of supporting communism, which ruined the careers and lives of many. The Republican minority attacked the Democratic administration during this movement, criticizing the government for its lack of strong leadership. In her “Declaration of Conscience,” Margaret Chase Smith pressures the current administration to improve its leadership through the use of emotional appeals, anaphora, and ethos. Firstly, Smith employs emotional appeals in order to motivate the American people to urge the Democratic leaders to change. To illustrate, Smith pities innocent Americans by criticizing that “seeing innocent …show more content…
In her introduction, Smith repeats that she “speak[s] as briefly as possible” because “too much harm has already been done,” and that “the issue is too great.” Through the repetition of the phrase, Smith creates a sense of urgency in order to further pressure the Democrats to unify this country. Smith also indicates afterwards that “harm has already been done” and that the “issue is too great” in order to further strengthen that sense of urgency. In another case, Smith repeats that she “thinks it is high time” for the Senate “to do some soul searching, and that they “remembered that [they] have sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution.” Because “high time” usually denotes that an event has long awaited its arrival, Smith indicates the longevity of this administration’s failure through this anaphora. She also refers to the Senate needing to remember the Constitution in her anaphora in order to suggest that the Senate has not remembered their duty, or, furthermore, neglected it, and that the time has come for them to follow the Constitution. Smith also once again creates a sense of urgency with the use of “high time”, further pressuring the Senate to change. In another instance, Smith repeatedly criticizes that “the Democratic Administration has pitifully failed to provide effective leadership,” “has lost the confidence of the American people” and “has completely confused the …show more content…
In the first case, Smith almost immediately credits herself by mentioning that “[she] speaks as a Republican,” “a women,” “a United States Senator,” and “as an American.” By establishing her credibility so early on in the speech, Smith strengthens all her coming arguments that base themselves upon this ethos. This also broadens the range of the audience that share the same background and might agree with her viewpoint, thus further strengthening her argument towards this administration. In another case, Smith later reiterates that “as a Republican, [she says] to [her] colleagues on this side of the aisle that the Republican Party faces a challenge today.” By first mentioning “as a Republican,” Smith specifically builds ethos towards this category of people, which in turn invigorates their support specifically for her as Republicans. Also, by saying to her colleagues that “the Republican Party faces a challenge today,” Smith places herself in the party as a leader, because she has the courage to accept that the Republican Party truly faces a challenge, and that they need to act to fix the Democratic administration’s issues. She thus builds more upon her ethos as a Republican. Near the end of the speech, Smith emphasizes that “as a United States Senator, [she is] not proud of the way in which the