Reading the Riot Act: Rhetoric, Psychology, and Counter-Revolutionary Discourse in Shays's Rebellion, 1786–1787

Engels, Jeremy

doi:10.1080/00335630500157532

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 12 publications

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“…8 Regarding dissent as equivalent to radical protest is, among other historical events, a legacy of Shays' Rebellion, a "lesson" that continues to have a "constitutive effect on contemporary American culture and society," observes Jeremy Engels; the specter of faction, mobocracy, and violent insurrection influenced the Founders to craft a U.S. Constitution that empowered government to coerce popular protest and contain democratic dissent. 9 Jeffrey Bennett's study of resistance to the FDA's ban on gay blood donations also treats dissent as synonymous with protest-that is, as a strategy of confrontation. Protest and passing, he argues, work together in the pursuit of social change to defy stigmatized sexual-identity constructions.…”

Section: Dissent and Protestmentioning

confidence: 97%

Enabling Democratic Dissent

Ivie¹

2015

Quarterly Journal of Speech

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Dissent, in its distinctive contribution to democratic practice, neither reduces to protest nor advances toward consensus. It is a double-sided discourse with both a solid footing in public culture and a sharp edge for cutting through political orthodoxies. Rhetorical invention is its dynamic. Dissenters must maneuver, like mythical tricksters, to sustain the vitality of democracy. The viability of their democratic interventions depends on the invention of legitimizing gestures. The topos of complementary differences-a pivotal term for articulating points of interdependency between dissenters and the broader public-illustrates the kind of inventive resource to which the field could productively turn its attention.Dissent is a key word in the vocabulary of a democratic people. A healthy democracy encourages the rhetorical act of dissent as a right of free speech and an antidote to political repression. Dissent is the balancing point between stability and change, cleavage and consensus, politics and revolution, life and decay. It should be tolerated, not censured by authorities, punished by law, or otherwise suppressed. Democracy cannot be true to the principle of self-governance when dissent is stifled, and public opinion is manipulated by ruling elites. When dissent is suppressed, especially in times of crisis, democracy itself is lost and the people are turned against themselves. No subject could be more salient to rhetorical scholarship. Stephen Hartnett's study of debates in antebellum America over issues of race, slavery, manifest destiny, and empire explores the ways in which cultural fictions facilitated and complicated the practice of democratic dissent. 1 Dale Smith investigates poetry as a rhetorical vehicle of dissent for shaping public consciousness. 2 John Bowers and his coauthors examine dissent as a rhetoric of agitation and control.

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Section: Dissent and Protestmentioning

confidence: 97%

Enabling Democratic Dissent

Ivie¹

2015

Quarterly Journal of Speech

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Disciplining Jefferson: The Man within the Breast and the Rhetorical Norms of Producing Order

Engels¹

2006

rap

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This essay analyzes Thomas Jefferson's letter to Maria Cosway of October 12, 1786, remembered today as the dialogue between Jefferson's head and heart. By offering a close reading of the rhetorical styles of the players in Jefferson's letter, and by reading the dialogue alongside Adam Smith's The Theory of Moral Sentiments, this essay argues that Jefferson's goal was to discipline his irrational, misbehaving heart. Jefferson's letter is interesting as a rhetorical artifact in itself, and deserves a close reading; yet this essay also argues that Jefferson's letter warrants consideration because it offers a detailed discussion of his political psychology and also, I argue, a window into his fantasies about how public affairs would be managed in the United States.

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Reading the Riot Act: Rhetoric, Psychology, and Counter-Revolutionary Discourse in Shays's Rebellion, 1786–1787

Cited by 2 publications

References 12 publications

Enabling Democratic Dissent

Enabling Democratic Dissent

Disciplining Jefferson: The Man within the Breast and the Rhetorical Norms of Producing Order

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