Rhetoric and the Republic Rhetoric, Culture, and Social Critique Series Editor John Louis Lucaites Editorial Board Richard Bauman Barbara Biesecker Carole Blair Dilip Gaonkar Robert Hariman Steven Mailloux Raymie E. McKerrow Toby Miller Austin Sarat Janet Staiger Barbie Zelizer Rhetoric and the Republic Politics, Civic Discourse, and Education in Early America Mark Garrett Longaker The University of Alabama Press Tuscaloosa Copyright © 2007 The University of Alabama Press Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0380 All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Typeface: Perpetua ∞ The paper on which this book is printed meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Longaker, Mark Garrett, 1974– Rhetoric and the republic : politics, civic discourse, and education in early America / Mark Garrett Longaker. p. cm. — (Rhetoric, culture, and social critique) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-8173-1547-4 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-8173-1547-0 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. English language—Rhetoric—Study and teaching—United States. 2. Rhetoric—Study and teaching—United States. 3. Rhetoric—Political aspects—United States. 4. English language—United States—Rhetoric. 5. Rhetoric—Social aspects—United States. 6. Education, Higher—United States—History—18th century. 7. United States— History—Colonial period, ca. 1600–1775. I. Title. PE1405.U6L66 2007 808.0071′173—dc22 2006017692 Contents List of Tables vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Now that We’re Civic xi Introduction / Rhetorical Education: An Articulated Site of Hegemony / Key Sites of Articulation: Rhetorical Publicity and Rhetorical Pedagogy / Conclu- sion 1. One Republic, Many Republicanisms: Early American Political Discourse and Publicity 1 Introduction / Republican Publicity and Political Discourse: The Rhetorical Perimeters of Republicanism / Republicanism and Laissez-Faire Capitalism: Political Discourse, Publicity, and Economics / Hegemony and Republican Rhe- torical Strategy / Conclusion 2. One Republic, Many Paideiai: Political Discourse, Publicity, and Education in Early America 36 Introduction / Politics and Paideia before Republicanism / The King’s College Controversy: Republican Education Contested / A Federal English: Rhetorical Paideia for Federalist Interests / Politics, Pedagogy, and Economics / Benjamin Franklin’s Bourgeois Republican Paideia / John Quincy Adams’s Bourgeois Re- publican Paideia and the Era of Good Feelings / The Edges of Republican Rhe- torical Paideiai / Conclusion 3. Yale 1701–1817 79 Introduction / Connecticut Political Economy, 1700–40 / The Old Order: Rhetoric at Yale before 1740 / Democratic Populism and Authoritarian Back- lash: Thomas Clap’s Legacy, 1740–66 / Connecticut Political Economy after vi / Contents 1760 / Rhetorical Education at Yale, 1766–77 / Yale during and after the Revo- lution: Rhetoric under Ezra Stiles / Timothy Dwight Returns to Yale: Belletrism, Puritanism, and Federalism / Conclusion 4. King’s College/Columbia and the College of Philadelphia/ University of Pennsylvania, 1754–1800 135 Introduction / King’s College, 1754–77 / The College of Philadelphia, 1755– 79 / Columbia University, 1787–1800 / The University of Pennsylvania, 1795– 1813 / Conclusion 5. The College of New Jersey, 1746–1822 177 Introduction / Presbyterianism and the New Jersey Bourgeoisie / John Wither- spoon’s Republican Rhetorical Education / Witherspoon’s Bourgeois Liberal Republican Paideia / Witherspoon’s Ascriptive, Liberal, Republican Paideia / Witherspoon’s Republican Rhetorical Legacy / Conclusion Conclusion: We Are All Republicans 206 Introduction / Liberalism and the Present Hegemony / The Republican Chal- lenge to Liberal Hegemony Notes 219 Works Cited 239 Index 263 Tables 2.1. Selected questions debated at Harvard commencement exercises, 1740–70 45 2.2. Selected questions debated at William and Mary’s Phi Beta Kappa Society, 1779–80 48 3.1. Selected debate topics recorded in Yale student notebooks during Thomas Clap’s tenure 101 3.2. Selected theses rhetoricae defended at Yale during the early 1770s 118 3.3. Selected topics debated by the Brothers in Unity 122 3.4. Selected topics debated at Yale during Ezra Stiles’s tenure as president 124 3.5. Selected topics debated at Yale during Timothy Dwight’s tenure as president 131 4.1. Selected debate and oration topics from King’s College commencements, 1762–73 147 4.2. Selected topics of student presentations at Columbia commencements, 1786–1800 165 5.1. Selected topics debated at commencement exercises during John Witherspoon’s tenure as president 189 5.2. Selected topics debated at the Whig and the Cliosophic societies 191 Acknowledgments Acknowledgments customarily begin with mention of the professional support that has contributed to a project, and they typically end with rec- ognition of those most central to an author’s personal life. By no means do I intend to downplay the importance of those who have read and of- fered comments about this argument or the research presented herein. Still, I have to break tradition. The greatest support for my work has come from my mother, Patricia Longaker; my wife, Michelle Meaux; and my daughter, Rosalind Longaker Meaux. My mother has taught me to be proud of my own past; Michelle has taught me to seek joy in the present; and Rosalind has made me hopeful about the future. This book began as an essay written for a graduate seminar and has continued to grow, to change, and to assume its present, radically altered shape. The archival research presented in chapter 3 was largely funded by a Penn State Research and Graduate Studies Dissertation Support grant and also by an award from the Philip Young Memorial Endowment for study in American literature. Both of these organizations deserve many thanks for helping scholars to pursue valuable, though perhaps not lucra- tive, writing projects. The book’s publication has been made possible by a generous grant from the University Co-operative Society in Austin, Texas. I hope that the ¤nal product sheds favorable light on those who contrib- uted monetary support to its completion. Several readers deserve thanks for helping me initially to synthesize a mountain of historical research. I am particularly indebted to Cheryl Glenn, Clement Hawes, Stephen Browne, Jeffrey Walker, and Marie Secor. Marie also deserves recognition for being the best professional adviser and mentor a young scholar could ever hope for. Several of my coworkers at the University of Texas offered