Reinventing the Master's Tools: Nineteenth-Century African-American Literary Societies of
Philadelphia and Rhetorical Education
Author(s): Jacqueline Bacon and Glen McClish
Source: Rhetoric Society Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 4 (Autumn, 2000), pp. 19-47
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
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Jacqueline Bacon and Glen McClish
THE MASTER'S TOOLS: NINETEENTHREINVENTING
LITERARYSOCIETIESOF
CENTURYAFRICAN-AMERICAN
EDUCATION
AND RHETORICAL
PHILADELPHIA
Abstract:AntebellumAfrican-Americanliterary societies in Philadelphia
promoted rhetorical education and gave members the opportunityto craft
powerfularguments.Thisstudyinvestigatesthepresence of theAnglo-American rhetorical tradition-particularly eighteenth-centuryScots principles
of Blair, Smith,and Campbell-in six representativespeeches delivered at
literarysociety meetings. Our analysisfocuses on two majorissues: 1) the
influence of traditionalprinciples of nineteenth-centuryuniversityrhetorical education on theory and practice in these societies; and 2) the ways in?
which traditionalprinciples were infused with new purposes; deployedfor
radical ends; and appropriated,reshaped,and reinventedin ways thattransform and redefinenineteenth-centuryrhetoricalpractice.
Jn his 1893 autobiography,FrederickDouglass recountsa defining moment
in his life as a slave that occurredwhen he was twelve. After overhearing
some white boys saying they "were going to learn some pieces" from Caleb
Bingham's Columbian Orator, Douglass purchased a copy of this text for
fifty cents. "[Elveryopportunityaffordedme was spentin diligently perusing
it," Douglass relates, remarkingparticularlyon two excerpts-a dialogue in
which a recapturedrunawayslave gains his freedom by refutinghis master's
proslavery arguments and a speech for Catholic emancipation (532-33).
Douglass asserts thatfrom these selections, he gained a sense of the "mighty
power and heart-searching directness of truth penetrating the heart of a
slaveholder,""a bold and powerful denunciation of oppression and a most
brilliantvindicationof the rights of man"(533). Douglass's testimony,then,
suggests thathe was inspiredby the principlesoutlinedin the reader,although
the precise extent to which his rhetoricwas shaped by the Columbian Orator
is the subject of an invigoratingdebate.'
The following studyextends the discussion of the use, appropriation,and
adaptationof the Anglo-Americanrhetoricaltraditionby antebellumAfricanAmericanrhetorsto less well-known-but equally revealing-texts produced
African-Americanliterarysocieties in Philaby membersof nineteenth-century
which
were importantforafor education,civic
These
organizations,
delphia.
issues, and mutual aid, have recently attractedsignificant scholarly interest.
In particular,archivalstudies have uncoveredtheir history,and scholarshave
19
RSQ: RhetoricSociety Qaurterly
Volume 30, Number4 Fall 2000
20
RHETORIC SOCIETY QUARTERLY
explored their connection to literacy and activism.3 We consider a related,
but largely unexamined,function of these organizations: rhetoricaleducation. Discussions of rhetoricalprinciplesappearin the addresses,constitutions, minutes, and other surviving texts of societies such as Philadelphia's
Augustine Society, a literaryorganizationestablishedin 1817. and the Colored Reading Society of Philadelphiafor Mental Improvement,founded in
1828, groups that counted prominentAfrican-Americanleadersamong their
members.4 These documents also suggest how theory influenced practice
within these organizations.
We begin with remarksabout methodologyand a brief historical overview of theAfrican-Americanliterarysocieties of Philadelphia,followed by a
review of relevantelements of the rhetoricaleducationthatdominatedwhite
universities in the antebellumperiod. We then examine six texts-William
Whipper's 1828 AddressDelivered in WesleyChurch,on the Evening of Julie
12, Before the ColoredReadingSociety of Philadelphia,for MentalImprovenment;an 1818 speech given by Prince Saundersto Philadelphia'sAugustine
Society; and fourorationsdeliveredin 1832 in PhiladelphiatoAfrican-American women's literaryorganizationsby SarahDouglass and threeanonymous
women, all of which were publishedin the "Ladies'Department"column of
the Liberator,William Lloyd Garrison'santislaverynewspaper. Our analyses of these speeches focus on two majorissues: (1) the influence of traditionalprinciplesof nineteenth-century
universityrhetoricaleducationon theory
and practice in these societies; and (2) the ways in which-in the particular
context of these organizations-traditionalprincipleswere infused with new
purposes; deployed for radical ends; and appropriated,reshaped,and reinvented in ways thattransformandredefinenineteenth-century
rhetoricalpractice. Ourconclusion speculatesaboutthe largersignificanceof the rhetoricof
these organizations.
METHODOLOGICAL ASSUMPTIONS
TracingconnectionsbetweenAnglo-Americanrhetoricandthe discourse
of African-Americanliterarysocieties is complicated by the fact that very
little is known aboutthe texts readin African-Americanschools or in literary
organizations,or aboutthe educationof the rhetorswe feature. Furthermore,
as the controversyover the sources of FrederickDouglass's eloquence illustrates,any study thatattemptsto examine the inherentlycomplex phenomena
related to influence must be speculativeand self-critical. This is particularly
true when analyzingAfrican-Americantexts, which scholarshave often tried
to fit too neatly into categoriesthat do not fully accountfor their persuasive
power. Although significantparallelsexist between the rhetoricaleducation
prevalentin nineteenth-century
Americanuniversitiesandthe practiceof PhiladelphiaAfrican-Americanliterarysociety members,and althoughthese soci-
BACON
& MCCLISH/MASTER'S
TOOLS
21
eties often explicitly promoteproficiencywith the rhetoricof white America,
it would be hasty to conclude that their discourse was largely derivative of
white culture.
Even when marginalizedrhetorsemploy the forms of the dominantclass,
theirrhetoricdoes not necessarilyconformto prevailingsocietal norms. Acts
of appropriationshould not be seen merely as "borrowing"but as reinvention and transformation. A variety of scholars, most notably Henry Louis
Gates and bell hooks, have exploredthe appropriationand revision of white
Americandiscourseby African-Americanrhetors.7The relationshipbetween
traditionalAmericanformsandAfrican-Americanreinventionsof those forms
is describedby Gates as a "doubling"process in which discourse is repeated
not in reductive but transformationalways (Figures in Black 57; Signifying
Monkeyxxii-xxv). Susan Jarratt'swork on the classical curriculumat historically African-Americancolleges and universities in the late nineteenth
and early twentiethcenturiesdemonstratesthattraditionalpedagogical models can be transmutedin ways that have profound implications for African
Americans,redefiningconcepts of citizenship, selfhood, and history.
We refer to African Americans' appropriation and reinvention of the
dominantdiscourse of theirsociety not to imply that these acts were illegitimate or that they constitutedencroachmentsinto territorynot properly or
naturallytheirs. Rather,following hooks, who arguesthat"languagedisrupts,
refusesto be containedwithinboundaries"(167), we wish to stress the radical
agency of those who effect such disruption. PonderingAfrican slaves' first
encounterswith English, hooks reflects, "I imagine them hearingspoken English as the oppressor'slanguage,yet I imagine them also realizing that this
language would need to be possessed, taken,claimed as a space of resistance
... seized and spoken by the tongues of the colonized . . re-hear[d] ... as a
potentialsite of resistance"(169-70). In this sense, literacy and freedom for
AfricanAmericansareparadoxicallylinkedbecause language,used by whites
to enslave them, is also ironically a key to resisting bondage.8 The terms
appropriationandreinvention,then,help to emphasizethatwhen a groupgains
power through mastery of the oppressor'sdiscourse, language use itselforiginally one of the master'stools-becomes a weapon with which to fight
oppression.
LITERARYSOCIETIES
AFRICAN-AMERICAN
PHILADELPHIA
African-Americanliterarysocieties developedin Philadelphia,as in other
cities, in the late 1820s andearly 1830s fromthe mutualaid societies thatfree
AfricanAmericansbegan organizingin the late eighteenthcentury.9 Unwelcome in white literaryorganizationsand faced with restricted educational
opportunities,AfricanAmericanssoughtvenues in which they could gain exposure to various subjectsthroughsocieties' librariesand reading rooms, as
22
RHETORICSOCIETYQUARTERLY
well as presenttheirwritingand oratoryto criticalaudiences. Some societies
set up schools for African-Americanchildren, such as the seminary established by the Augustine Society, or providedlibrariesfor youth and adults, as
did the ColoredReading Society.
A few examples illustratethe role of literacyand rhetoricaleducation
in these organizations. The goals of Philadelphia'sColored Reading Society
included using the group's funds to buy "useful books" in the areas of "Ancient[,] Modernand Ecclesiastical History"and "theLaws of Pennsylvania,"
which a librarianwould lend to members, and to subscribe to the AfricanAmericannewspaperFreedom'sJournal and the Genius of UniversalEmancipation, an antislaveryperiodical (Whipper,"Address";Whipper,Address
107-08). The group proposed to "meet once a week to returnand receive
books, to read, and express whatever sentiments [members] may have conceived if they thinkproper"(Whipper,Address 108). Similarly,Philadelphia's
Female LiteraryAssociation(FLA), organizedin 1831, subscribedto periodicals, circulateda libraryof books,andencouragedmembersto writeanonymous
essays thatwould be "criticisedby a committee"("Female"[1831]; "Female"
[1832])."'1These andotherPhiladelphiaAfrican-American
literarysocieties are
particularlyimportantbecausethey helpeddevelop the rhetoricof severalgenerationsof prominentAfrican
Americans,includingWilliamWhipperandSarah
Douglass.
Some of the Philadelphia literary societies' constitutions and oratorical performances were published as pamphlets. In other cases, these
texts appeared in African-American newspapers such as Freedom's Journal; in antislavery newspaperssuch as William Lloyd Garrison'sLiberator;
and in otherpublisheddocuments,such as the minutesof conventionsor conferences. The "Ladies'Department"column of the Liberatoris a particularly
rich source. The six addressesfeaturedbelow were selected from the dozen
or so we were able to locate. Although the extant texts from these literary
societies arescarceandoften fragmentary,when they areexaminedas a whole,
a revealing pictureof practicesand agendas emerges.
RHETORICAL
NI&TEENM-CEARy AMERICAN
EDUCATION
Philadelphia'sAfrican-Americanliterary societies seem to have drawn
from the traditionof nineteenth-centuryAmerican university education that
was heavily indebtedto Scottish facultypsychology of the previouscentury."I
Centralto this educationalframeworkwas a highly influentialrhetoricalpedagogy. As Nan Johnsonargues, this traditionof trainingin eloquence built on
fundamentalprinciplesset forthby Scots George Campbell.Hugh Blair,Lord
Kames, and-indirectly-Adam Smith,'2 including the presuppositionthat
the mind works accordingto naturaland universal laws.'3 Mental faculties,
BACON & MCCLISH/MASTER'sTOOLS
23
Blair asserts, are improvedthrough"exercise";and, in particular,"[a]ll that
regardsthe study of eloquence and composition ... is intimately connected
with the improvementof our intellectual powers" (1: 19, 1: 6).'4 Taste, a
cornerstoneof rhetoricaleducation,was for Blair fundamentallyconnectedto
"[rleason and good sense" (1: 21). A "most improveable faculty" (1: 19),
tastecould be refinedby studying"propermodels for imitation"(1: 6)-which
included the best authorsfrom the classical period to contemporarytimesand learningprinciplesof criticism (1: 6, 1: 15-24, 2: 235-36).15 From the
ancient world, particularemphasis was placed on Demosthenes and Cicero;
contemporaryexamples of excellent rhetoric were drawn from literary figures such as Swift, Addison,and Shaftesbury.Notably, taste's utility extends
beyond the artof eloquence;as Johnsonremarks,it "is synonymous with the
developmentof intellectualvirtueand moral character"(61).
Closely relatedto the concept of taste is genius, which for Blair "consists
... in the power of executing" (1: 41). Genius is a higher faculty than
taste, Blair argues, because it "always imports something inventive or
creative; which does not rest in mere sensibility to beauty where it is perceived, but which can, moreover,producenew beauties,and exhibit them in
such a manneras strongly to impress the minds of others"(1: 41). Taste is
sufficientto createa good critic, but genius is necessary to form the oratoror
poet (1: 41).
The principleof sympathyconstitutesa fundamentalelement of the rhetorical theory of the era.'6 Most explicitly discussed in Smith's Theory of
Moral Sentiments,this concept builds on the premise thateloquence depends
upon the rhetor'spresentationof vivid emotion. If the emotion is rendered
with sufficientvivacity,the audienceinevitablyexperiencesthe providentially
placed correspondencebetween their feelings and those described by the
rhetor-they exist as one. The productof this sympatheticbond is persuasion. Smithdiscusses the audience'ssympatheticresponseto the successfully
renderedemotions of historicalcharactersin the following terms: "Weenter
into theirmisfortunes,grieve when they grieve, rejoice when they rejoice, and
in a word feel for them in some respects as if we ourselves were in the same
condition"(Lectures85). Campbelladvises that sympathycan be effectively
invokedby stressingaudiencemembers'concerns: "Ofall relations,personal
relation,by bringingthe object very near,most enlivens that sympathywhich
attachethus to the concernsof others;interestin the effects brings the object
... into contact with us, and makes the mind cling to it as a concern of its
own" (89). '7 The productof faculty psychology, this approachto pathos depends on the essential commonalityof our psychological apparatus. Kames
asserts,"Thenaturalsigns of emotions,voluntaryandinvoluntary,being nearly
the same in all men, form an universal language, which no distance in tribe,
no diversityof tongue, can darkenor renderdoubtful"(2: 127).
24
RHETORIC SOCIETY QUARTERLY
As their sustainedinterestin sympathydemonstrates,the Scots placed
great emphasis on the role of the emotions in persuasion. Although logical
argumentationis discussed in the treatisesof Blair, Campbell, and Smith, all
three theorists teach that successful eloquence ignites the passions in orderto
move the will. Blair, for example, asserts that "in order to persuade,"an
orator"mustaddress himself to the passions; he must paint to the fancy, and
touch the heart . . ." (2: 4). Campbellconcurs: "So far thereforeit is from
being an unfairmethod of persuasionto move the passions, that there is no
persuasionwithoutmoving them"(77). Rhetorsareencouragedto engage the
emotions of the audience and thus inspire action by marshaling what in
Ciceronian terms might be called the grand style. Campbell writes, "From
[fancy's]exuberantstoresmost of thosetropesandfiguresareextracted,which,
when properlyemployed, have such a marvellousefficacy in rousingthe passions, and by some secret, sudden, and inexplicable association, awakening
all the tenderestemotions of the heart"(4).
The Scots rhetoricaltheoristsof the eighteenthcenturyviewed rhetorical education primarilyas a means of assimilating affluent Scots youth into
British society and preparingthem for positions of social privilege, thus reinforcing the existing class structure.' GregoryClarkand S. Michael Halloran
remark that eloquence was conceived publicly by these eighteenth-century
theorists, and their conception of taste relied to a certain extent on public
wisdom and thus had communal underpinnings. Yet the primacy of taste in
these rhetorics, which was essentially "an inward response," made the domain of criticism essentially private(15-16).
WILLIAM WHIPPER'S ADDRESS BEFORE THE COLORED READING SOCIETY
OF PHILADELPHIA
William Whipper (ca. 1804-1876), a free-bornPennsylvania businessman and intellectual, was one of the founding members of Philadelphia's
Colored Reading Society ("Address"). Probablyborn in LancasterCounty,
Pennsylvania,Whipperhad moved to Philadelphiaby 1828 and become involved in the intellectuallife of the city's African-Americancommunity. That
he was well educatedis clear,althoughparticularsare unknown. Philadelphia
abolitionist William Still describedhim as "self-made,and well read on the
subject of the reformsof the day" (735).19
In his 1828 AddressBefore the ColoredReadingSociety of Philadelphia,
Whipper explicitly underscoreshis affinity for eighteenth-centuryScottish
theory. "It is with the greatestof pleasurewe observe that the philosophy of
the mind has lately assumed a new aspect," he remarks. "The 'sublime fog'
which formerlyenvelopedthis subject,has been dispelledby the light of Scotch
philosophy; and science, strictly so called, has been established, not on mere
BACON
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25
hypothesis, but on fixed principles and mattersof fact" (111).
More specifically, he establishes links to the faculty psychology model
and the rhetoricaltheoryit inspired:
The first object of educationis to exercise, and by exercising to improve the faculties of the mind. Every faculty we possess is
improveableby exercise. This is a law of nature. The acquisitionof
knowledge is not the only design of a liberal education;its primary
design is to discipline the mind itself, to strengthenand enlarge its
powers.... Withoutthis preparatoryexercise, our ideas will be superficial and obscure, and all the knowledgewe acquirewill be buta
confusedmass ... incapableof useful application.( 10)
In the preceding passage, Whipperemploys the language of the eighteenthcentury Scots to reiteratethe fundamentalprinciple that the faculties of the
mind are improvedthroughpracticeand use.(' Justas Blair arguesthat"rules
and instruction... cannot inspire genius, but they candirectandassistit"(1:6),
Whipperremindshisaudiencethat"[elducation
cannotcreate;itsprovinceis to elicit
anddirectthefacultiesof themind"(112).
Given his appreciationfor Scottish philosophy, it is not surprisingthat
Whipperemphasizes the faculty of taste. He remarksthat the study of eloquence is far more thanthe acquisitionof "useless ornaments"(113). Declaring taste "the gift of God," Whipperoutlines its importance:
The cultivationof taste ... whether we consider it as a simple faculty, or as a combination, embraces in its range a great variety of
objects, is to us a source of refined enjoyments,and like otherfaculties admits of improvementby cultivation. Learningmust furnish
the material,taste must give the polish, andin many cases the capacity of useful application. It is thereforenot withoutgood reasonthat
in a system of educationso much attentionis requiredto the study of
belles lettres,to criticism, to composition, pronunciation,style, and
to everythingincluded in the name of eloquence. (112-13)
Studentsof Scottishrhetoricwill note the close similaritybetween Whipper's
precedingcharacterizationof the relationshipbetween "learning"and "taste"
andBlair's discussion of the complementaryroles of "knowledgeandscience"
and"rhetoric."
Theformer,Whipper'seighteenth-century
predecessor
asserts,"must
fiurish thematerialthatformthebodyandsubstanceof anyvaluablecomposition.
Rhetoric serves to add the polish . . ." (1: 4; emphasis added). Although
Whippersubstitutes"taste"for "rhetoric,"it is clear from the rest of the passage that his central argumentabout the symbiotic roles of knowledge and
RHETORIC SOCIETY QUARTERLY
26
eloquence aligns with his eighteenth-centurypredecessor's.As ThomasLessl
asserts, "If any teacherof rhetoricleft a markon Whipper,one would have to
speculate that this would be Blair. . ." (377).
As he excoriateswhites who hypocriticallycelebratethe spiritof '76 and
supportslavery,Whipper'srhetoricalpracticedemonstratesthe Scots emphasis on passionate eloquence:
Yet these wise men, who hatethe very idea, form, and name of slavery as respects themselves, are holding and dooming an innocent
posterity(connectedto themselvesin all the sublimequalitiesof man
.. .) to slavery in their own country-on
their own farms-and
at
their own firesides, in a bondageten times as severe as the one alreadymentioned,thattheirfathersdenouncedas being too ignominious to be borne by man....
Oh! horrible spectacle!
Oh! for an
asylum to hide from the knowledgeof such barbarityand injustice.
(114)
Whipperbackshis appealsto pathos withstylisticpyrotechnics,effectinglofty
prose to galvanize his audience againstthe institutionof slavery. Through
expandedsentencestructure,elevateddiction,vivid metaphors,strategiessuch
as anaphora,apostropheand gradatio,and a deliberateloosening of control,
he compels his audienceto endorse abolitionistsentimentsthat then support
his pitch for the educationaladvancementof AfricanAmericans.
Whipper'sdiscussionof the methodsof cultivatingtaste calls to mind the
eighteenth-centuryemphasison belles lettresandthe studyof exemplaryclassical texts. "'T]hetaste,"he argues,"is greatlyimprovedby conversingwith
the best models; the imaginationis enrichedby the fine scenery with which
the classics abound;and an acquaintanceis formed with human nature,together with the history,customs andmannersof antiquity"( I 1). Unlike the
eighteenth-centuryScots theorists, who provided detailed accounts of "the
best models" and "thefine scenery with which the classics abound,"Whipper
does not outline a specific course of literarystudy,buta survivingaccount of
the libraryof Philadelphia'sBannekerSociety (a literaryand debating society) includes David Hume's Historycof England, Milton 's Poetical Works, six
volumes of Pliny, a Greek and English dictionary,antislaverytexts such as
Uncle Torns Cabin,and worksof particularrelevanceto memberssuch as the
History of the New- YorkAfrican Free-Schools."'
It would be shortsighted,though,to view Whipper'srhetoricas merely
imitative of Scots theoryor complacentaboutcurrentinequitiesin discursive
power. Particularlywhen placed in its political context, his speech to the
Colored Reading Society of Philadelphiareveals subversiveaims alien to his
eighteenth-centuryScots predecessors. Because, as noted above, there is a
27
BACON & MCCLISH/MASTER'STOOLS
fundamentalbutparadoxicalconnectionbetween literacyand libertyfor African Americans,the endorsementof traditionalrhetoricaleducation can have
radicalimplications.Given the legal contextof the late 1820s and early 1830s,
the goals of gaining literacyin generaland proficiency in the rhetoricalfoundationsof nineteenth-centuryuniversityeducationin specific both constituted
acts of resistance.Aftera series of slave insurrectionplots and revolts, Southernlegislaturesinstitutedrestrictivelaws banningliteracyfor slaves (Cornelius
12, 30-33; Foner 154-55). Whipperalludes to one such law in his address.
Having discussedthe hypocrisyof whiteAmericanswho supportslaveryeven
thoughtheirfathersrevoltedagainstBritishoppression(see above), he ironically praises the "wise and patrioticlegislatureof South Carolina,"who, "at
theirlast convention,"passed a law punishing"any white or black teaching a
man of colour how to read or write" with a "fine and disgraceful stripes"
(113). Facility with written language, Whipperreminds his audience, is a
powerful tool of resistancethatwhiteAmerica wishes to withhold from African Americans.
Whippersuggests that rhetoricalproficiency leads to furtherempowerment. He cautions Colored Reading Society members that their efforts at
educationalimprovementmay threatenwhite America and may even draw
opposition from some AfricanAmericans. Noting that they will likely meet
with "calumnyand opposition,"he boldly asserts, "Indeedwe would rather
count than shun the contest, as the very sparkswhich may be elicited by the
clashing of our weaponswill in some measuretend to dissipatethe surrounding darkness,andthus facilitatethe progressof those who are in search of the
realityof our sentiments"(108). Whipper'smartialmetaphoris significantrhetoricis a "weapon"in a contest that will improve the plight of the righteous by illuminatingtheircause. Whereas,as noted above, Scots rhetorical
pedagogy was conservativeandassimilationist,Whipper'sversion of enlightenment is inspiredby an agonistic eloquence of social justice and dramatic
culturalchange.
Whipper'streatmentof the Scots concept of genius carriesspecial meaning for his fellow membersof the ColoredReading Society:
[W]e are not ... to consider those alone worthy of education who
possess transcendent genius. Genius is a rare article.
. .
. Where
thereis a moderatecapacityit may be cultivatedwith advantage,and
afterall has been said aboutgenius, intellect, talent, brains, &c. the
fact is that men do not differ so much from each other by original
distinctions of genius as by their success in improving what they
have. Men of moderatecapacityhave risen to eminence andrespectability by industry and perseverance....
(112)
28
RHETORIC SOCIETY QUARTERLY
Whiledemonstratingan appreciationfor thisprimaryeighteenth-centurytopos,
Whipper shifts the emphasis to self-improvement, thus encouraging those
currentlyoutside the Anglo-Americanelite to pursuerhetoricas a means of
civic power. Asserting "thatmen do not differ so much from each other by
originaldistinctionsof genius,"he appropriatesthe concept of the uniformity
of mental powers, a premise of eighteenth-centuryScottish faculty psychology, to supporta nineteenth-centuryargumentfor racial equality and further
democratizationof Americancivic rhetoric.
A similarargumentis set forth in the opening moments of the speech, in
which Whipperdecries the contemporaryconceptionof tastein rhetoricwhile
praisingan older, less artificialstandardof discourse: "I am well aware that
the age in which we live is fastidiousin its taste. It demandseloquence,figure,
rhetoric,and pathos;plain, honest,common sense is no longer attracting.No:
the oratormustdisplay the pomp of words,the magnificenceof the tropesand
figures,or he will be consideredunfitfor the dutiesof his profession"(107). At
first glance, this pronouncement resembles the late seventeenth-century
antirhetorical
stancechampionedby the likes of BishopSpratof the Royal Society andJohnLocke.2 As Whippercontinues,however,it becomes clearthathis
ostensibleattackon rhetoricis moreprobablya meansof simultaneouslylaying
claim to the spiritof the Scots rhetoricof the previouscentury("plain,honest,
common sense")and of supportinga self-acquired,democraticeloquence particulartoradicalantebellumdiscourse.23Similarly,his assertionthat"Truthshould
always be exhibitedin such a dress as may be best suited to the state of the
audience,accompaniedwith every principleof science andreason"(107) suggests Scots premises about the propermanagementof discourse that can be
appropriatedby Whipper'sAfrican-Americanaudience.24In this way, Whipper transformsthe belletrists' notion of taste into a democraticprinciple that
empowers previously marginalizedAfrican Americans to participatein the
civic sphere.
As earlierdemonstrated,Whipperfollows the Scots dictumthateloquence
marshalspathos to affect the will, and he dutifullyevokes the high style in an
effort to persuadehis audience to embracethe educationalgoals of the society. One of the most significant features of his Address Before the Colored
Reading Society of Philadelphia, though, is his identification of a specific
state of mind or passion as the key motivator of humankind. "Ambition,"
Whipperasserts, "takesin everythingto which our thoughtscan be extended,
andis the very thing thatwill exert us to action"(1 16). Explicitly appealingto
ambition, which is not a component of Scots rhetoricaltheory, he urges his
audience to pursueeducationas a means of self-advancementthat will bring
liberationfromoppression: "Fame,Ambition,rise! proclaim!andtearus from
the chains of slavery! Be alert, be free; and then forever rest" (1 17). Like
Blair (2: 4) andCampbell(72), who-following Aristotle-defend eloquence
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from the charge thatit can be used for evil by arguingthat the same is trueof
all productivearts,Whippercreatesa similarjustificationfor his drivingmechanism for persuasion,ambition: "Ithas to be sure, a bad side, but like knowledge, like water, and like fire, when properly made use of, it is of immense
benefit"(I 18).25
As a reader of Blair, Whippersurprisesno one with the emotion he infuses in his praisefor the positive power of ambition. "Oh! Parentof virtue,"
he apostrophizes,"greatorigin of religious ambition,which can level mountains, tear the very hills from theirfoundations,and make rivers flow through
dry land" (117). Yet his effort to establish-and act upon-an alternative
theory of rhetoricalmotivation moves beyond his Scots predecessors. No
doubt Whipper's decision to center on ambition as the primarymotivatorof
humanaction is artfullyprescriptive,as well as aptlydescriptive. For a people
who struggle to survive amidst a dominant culture that continuously undermines theirbasic humanrightsand attemptsto thwartevery effortat progress,
ambitionis arguablythe salient ingredientfor survival and success.
AUGUSTINE
ADDRESSBEFORETHEPENNSYLVANIA
PRiNcE SAUNDERS'S
SOCIETY
Prince Saunders (ca. 1775-1839) grew up in the home of a prominent
Vermontlawyer; was educated at Moor's CharitySchool; and taught in the
African school of Colchester,Connecticut, and in Boston's African School.
Well connected with leading intellectuals in Boston, he was a founderof the
Belles Lettres Society and a secretary of the African Masonic Lodge.26 In
1818, he spoke at the founding of Philadelphia'sAugustine Society, arguing
for the benefits of a broad-based,liberal education. Saunders'scentraltheme
is that "the means of acquiringknowledge sufficient to read and understand
the sacred Scriptures,and to manage with proprietythe ordinaryconcerns of
domestic and social life" should be "within the reach of every individual"
(89). This goal, he maintains,will be furtheredwhen people realize that they
are "boundtogetherby the indissoluble links of that golden chain of charity
and kind affection with which Christianityinvariablyconnects its sincere votaries,"and, as a result,they "becomeco-workers and fellow-labourersin the
illumination,the improvement,and the ultimate felicity" of all of God's followers (90).
As Saunders continues, his concept of Christiancharity aligns closely
with the Enlightenmentnotion of sympathy:
[11nthe true spirit of the religion of that beneficent Parent... many
persons of differentregions and various nations have been led to the
contemplationof the interestingrelations in which the human race
RHETORIC SOCIETY QUARTERLY
30
stand to each other. They have seen that man, as a solitary individual, is a very wretched being....
We are formed by nature to
unite;we are impelledtowardseach otherby the benevolentinstincts
in our frames;we are linked by a thousandconnexions, founded on
common wants. (90)
Saunders'semphasis on universal,God-givencommonfeelings reiteratesthe
principle popularizedby Smith and his Scots contemporaries.Claimingthat
"the genuine kind affections"and "elevatedsensibilitiesof Christianity"are
designed to resonate with "the best sentiments,feelings and dispositions of
the human heart"(91), Saundersarticulatesa psychological explanationof
the instinctiveimpulse underlyinghis faithtradition.LikeWhipper,Saunders
marshalsthe grandstyle to providean emotionalbase for his pitch for education. As he praises classical figures, he presentselaborateimagery to tout
their willingness to come together "to aid the progressof those who were
aspiring,to taste the Castilianspring,while ascendingthe toweringheights of
Parnassus,thattherethey mightbeholdthe magnificenttempleof the Rulerof
the Muses, and hear his veneratedoracle"(89).
Although Saundersrelies on traditionaleighteenth-centuryprinciplesof
faculty psychology and eloquence, his endorsementof rhetoricaleducation
has radicalimplications. Justas Whipperreferencesthe connectionbetween
literacy and liberty, so Saunders links traditionaltrainingin eloquence to
struggles for freedom, even throughforce or insurrection.He illustratesthe
value of education for his audience by noting the attainmentsof various ancient figures, includingrhetoricaltheoristsAristotle,Cicero.andone Antonius
Gripho,an "accomplishedand eloquent youth"who "taughtrhetoricand poetry at the house of Julius Caesar, when a mere boy" (89). Shifting to the
present, he notes that many are now "awakenedto a sense of the importance
of a universaldisseminationof the blessings of instruction... in the northern
and eastern sections of our country,in some portionsof Europe, and in the
island of Hayti" (89).
The latter example is particularly significant.
The
successful slave rebellion in Saint Domingue in the 1790s, which led to
the creation of the independent black republic of Haiti, inspired many
African Americans (and created anxiety among many proslavery white
Americans).2'7 By connectinga successful armedstrugglefor freedomwith
the search for knowledge that drove the ancients,Saunderssuggests the potentially militantpower of educationin generalandrhetoricin specific.
SARAHDOUGLASS'SADDRESSTO A "MENTALFEAST"
Sarah Douglass (1806-1882) was the daughterof abolitionistsRobert and
Grace Bustil Douglass. An educatorand abolitionist,she was active in Philadelphia's
FLA, helped found the PhiladelphiaFemale Anti-SlaverySociety, and wrote many
31
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articles for the Liberator's"Ladies'Department"and "JuvenileDepartment"(often
Althoughspecificinformation
underthepseudonym
"Zillah").
aboutSarahDouglass's
is
earlyeducation unfortunately
unavailable,
C. PeterRipleyet al. note that"[s]he
receivedextensivetutoringas a child"(117).8
In an 1832 addressgiven in Philadelphia at a "mental feast" (presumably a
meeting of an African-Americanwomen's literary society), Douglass both
relies on and transformsthe traditionalEnlightenmentformulationof sympathy. She relates,"AnEnglish writerhas said, 'Wemust feel deeply before we
can act rightly;from that absorbing,heart-rendingcompassion for ourselves
springs a deeper sympathyfor others,and from a sense of our weakness and
our own upbraidingsarises a disposition to be indulgent, to forbear,to forgive"' (114). Douglass demonstratesthe vital link between the sympathetic
response and action, a connection emphasizedby all the Scots rhetoricians,
including Blair, who claims thatwhen we are drawninto the emotions of the
speaker,"we love, we detest, we resent, accordingas he inspires us; and are
promptedto resolve, or to act, with vigour and warmth"(2: 6). In her introduction, Douglass seeks to establish the necessary emotional bond between
her audience and her subjects-slaves-by exhortingher listeners "to excite
each otherto deeds of mercy,wordsof peace; to stir up in the bosom of each,
gratitudeto God for his increasinggoodness, and feeling of deep sympathy
for our brethrenand sisters, who are in this land of Christianlight and liberty
held in bondagethe most cruel anddegrading-to make theircause our own!"
(1 14). Inparticular,the specific vicariouscommitmentrequiredby Douglass"to make their cause our own!"-requires the audience to build the kind of
sympatheticbond describedby Smithand his colleagues.
The establishmentof bonds of sympathyis particularlyimportantfor antebellum AfricanAmericans,whose claim to citizenship rests upon common
sentimentsthattranscendrace. In addition,for free AfricanAmericansliving
in the North,especially the relativelyprosperousmembersof literarysocieties, sympathy becomes a means of conceptualizingone's relationship to a
country in which slavery persists-and
to slaves themselves.
Explaining to
audiencemembershow she becamemotivatedto fight slavery,SarahDouglass
infuses the traditionalprincipleof sympathywith special significance:
One shortyear ago, how differentwere my feelings on the subjectof
slavery! It is true,the wail of the captive sometimes came to my ear
in the midst of my happiness,and caused my heartto bleed for his
wrongs;but. . . I had formeda little worldof my own, and cared not
to move beyond its precincts. But how was the scene changed when
I beheld the oppressorlurking on the border of my own peaceful
home! I saw his ironhandstretchedforthto seize me as his prey, and
the cause of the slave became my own. I started up . . . and deter-
32
RHETORICSOCIETYQUARTERLY
mined,by the help of theAlmighty,to use every exertionin my power
to elevate the characterof my wronged and neglected race. (114)
Douglass likely refers to the very real threatof kidnapperswho preyed upon
both fugitive slaves and free African Americans, whom they attempted to
sell into slavery.29 On one level, then, as Campbell advises, she appeals to
heraudience'spersonalinterests,asking the otherwomen, "Hasnot this been
your experience, my sisters? Have you not felt as I have felt upon this thrilling subject? My heartassures me some of you have" (I 14).
Yet Douglass's appeal also reinventsthe notion of sympathyfor antebellumAfricanAmericans. Highlightingthe very realconnectionbetween slaves
and free AfricanAmericans, Douglass enriches sympathy with the spirit of
communality,the notion that the personal and the communal are always inextricably linked for African Americans.") Douglass reminds her audience
that there is no absolute boundarybetween slavery and freedom, and she
appealsto bonds of community that unite free and slave and transcendgeographyand circumstance. As Shirley Logan demonstrates,the communaltraditions that resonate in antebellumAfrican-Americanrhetoric have precursors in Africanculture ("WeAre Coming" 23-27). Douglass's invocation of
sympathyaffirmsLogan's point that "Africanand Westerndiscursive practices" can be used "syncretically"by African-Americanrhetors ("We Are
Conming"43). Douglass bolsters her plea for emotional identification with
the enslaved by suggesting that the principle of sympathyactivates even the
divine. Calling upon her audience to place their trustin God, she extols His
willingness to provide succor: "Come to Him who giveth liberally and
upbraidethnot; bringyour wrongs and fears to Him, as you would to a tender
parent-He will sympathise with you" (114). If the Almighty establishes a
sympatheticbond with "poor, weak, finite creaturesas we are" (114), then
surely members of the audience are obliged to connect with their enslaved
brothersand sisters. Although she does not explicitly state this argumenta
fortiori, it providesthe implicitfoundationof herspeech. In this way, Douglass
makes the principleof sympathy her own.
ADDRESSTO THEFEMALELITERARYASSOCIATION
Also in 1832, an FLA memberdelivered an addressto the organization,
publishedanonymouslyin the Liberator's"Ladies'Department,"which similarlyreferencesandredefinestraditionalEnlightenmentrhetoricaltheory. She
asserts, "My object at present is to call your attentionto the necessity of improving the mental faculties, of exalting the moral powers, and of elevating
yourselves to the station of rational, intelligent beings" (Al). Arguing that
women should have "a liberal, a classical education,"the oratorunderscores
the eighteenth-centuryconnection of literarystudy to moralityand virtue. "I
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have long and ardentlydesired your intellectualadvancement,"she remarks,
"uponwhich the progressof moralitymust mainly depend.... I do not consider that [education] usually bestowed on [women] efficient; on the contrary,it tends to debase the moral powers...." Only when women are given
"the propereducation,"she argues, will "the female characterbe raised to a
just stand"(Al). Drawingon whatNan Johnsoncalls "belletristicidealism"the notion that "the study of rhetoricand the practiceof criticism confer rhetorical expertise as well as moral and intellectual virtue" (79)-this rhetor
suggests thather fellow FLA members'literaryand oratoricalefforts will improve theirmoral character.
The traditionof facultypsychologyandbelletristicidealism,though,serves
a decidedly progressiveend. Setting forththe foundationon which women's
education should be based, the FLA member argues, "I am aware that ...
many speculationshave been set afloat respecting [women's] capacity of receiving a liberal,a classical education;and I am also awarethatan opinion too
generally prevails, that superficial learningis all that is requisite, and to this
cause, may in a great measure be attributedthe pravity,the embasement of
society" (Al). Even thoughshe supportsher endorsementof women's education with traditionalantebellumnotionsof gender-that women must be educated because they have a great "influence"on "theyoung mind"and need to
fill "thestationsallottedthem"(Al)3 -her claim aboutthe power
appropriately
of a liberal and classical education for women is significant. We can infer
from the oratoricalexercises of the FLA that she endorses not only writing
and readingbut public addressas partof the appropriatetrainingfor women.
RobertConnorsnotes thatas white women began to enter universitiesbeginning in the late 1830s, they were often restrictedfrom oratoricaltraining,encouraged instead to focus solely on written composition (54-57). The example of this FLA membersuggests thatperhapsAfrican-Americanwomen,
althoughoften restrictedby similarexpectationsthatthey refrainfrom public
speaking,found ways to challenge these limitations.
The FLA member also adapts the practice of imitation, entreatingher
sisters, "If any one imagines that her talents are less brilliantthan others, let
her not disdain to contrasttheir superiorattainmentswith her own; suffer not
a feeling (shall I say of envy?) to enter [your hearts],but ratherstrive to imitate theirvirtues. . ." (AI). With this admonishment,she arguesthat studying
women.
models of eloquenceshouldincludetheworkof otherAfrican-American
Transformingthe approachof the Scots theorists,who privilegecanonicalmodels, she democratizesthe principleof imitationwhile bestowing agency upon
African-Americanwomen within an organizationthat they direct and control.
WhereasforBlairandhis contemporaries,
imitationof greatmodelsof eloquence
brings glory to the individualrhetor,in this context the practice of emulating
superiorrhetoricis designedto raise the overall standardsof the communityof
34
RHETORIC SOCIETY QUARTERLY
African-Americanwomen. TheFLAmember'sreinventionof imitationalso has
a practicalcomponent-those membersof African-American
literaryorganizations who may not have access to a wide varietyof literarymodelscan drawon
communitymembers'expertiseto gain facilityin languageand rhetoric.
ADDRESS TO THE FEMALE LITERARYASSOCInTIONON ITS FIRSTANNiVERSARY
In an addressgiven laterin 1832 on the occasionof FLA'sfirstanniversary
and again publishedanonymouslyin the Liberator's"Ladies'Department,"a
educationalagenda
fellowmemberarguesfortheimportanceof theorganization's
and, more particularly,for the need for AfricanAmericansto perseverein their
study of rhetoricdespite obstacles. She specificallyconnectsthe goals of the
FLA to the antislaverycause. Quotingand elaboratingon a remarkof an unnamedabolitionist,she maintainsthat free AfricanAmericans'efforts to gain
educationare directly connected to the slaves' welfare:
[I]f there is one here so skeptical, I would repeat to her a remark
made by our unflinching advocate-Every effort you make in this
way, said he, helps to unbindthe fettersof the slave; and if she still
doubts,I would tell her thatas the free people of color become virtuous and intelligent,the characterand conditionof the slave will also
improve. I would bid her, if she wishes the enfranchisementof her
sisters, to sympathise in their woes, to rehearsetheir wrongs to her
friendson every occasion, always rememberingthatourinterestsare
one, that we rise or fall together,and that we can never be elevated
to our properstanding while they are in bondage. (A2)
The rhetorfeatures two centralthemes in this excerpt. She entreatsher
audience to feel the slave's cause as their own-an argumentwith connections to the traditionalEnlightenmentconception of sympathyas a spur to
action. Notably, too, she suggests that sympathyleads to more effective persuasion, telling her audiencethattheiremotions shouldspurthemto advocate
the slaves' cause. Her conclusion reiteratesher appealto sympathy: "Think
of the groans,the tearsof yourenslaved sisters. . . andagaingo forwardin the
path of duty and improvement....
[E]vince, by your attendance here, that
you love literature,thatyou love your people, and thatnothingshall be wanting on your partto elevate them"(A2).
Yet thereis a second aspect to this rhetor'sconnectionbetween slave and
free. Just as Sarah Douglass's conception of sympathyresonates with the
traditionalAfrican emphasis on communality,so does this FLA membersuggest that her audience's link to slaves is more than simply interpersonalor
emotional-the bondageof anyone personis sharedby all. Indeed,thisspeaker
specifically couples FLA members' acquisitionof literacy with the freedom
S TOOLS
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of the slaves, a connection with potentiallyradical implications. To understandthis associationbetween literacyamongfree AfricanAmericansand the
antislaverycause, it is necessaryto review the relationshipbetween self-help
and abolition for antebellumAfricanAmericans.
Previous scholarshiphas demonstratedthat self-help rhetoricamongAfrican-Americanabolitionistswas fundamentalto their antislaveryagenda.32
As noted above, African Americans believed that slave and free were connected by communalbonds, andthusthe actions of any one personhad implications for others. Individualmoral and educationaladvancementwas seen
as a significant part of the antislavery crusade for two reasons. First,
African-American abolitionists believed that self-improvement efforts
would provide concrete counterexamplesto refute proslaveryclaims about
people of color. Yet there was also a more radical strain of self-help
rhetoric that incorporates the power of literacy. Building on the connection of literacy and liberty explored above, African-American abolitionists perceived education as a potentially militant act against slavery. As
the radical abolitionist David Walker argues in his 1829 Appeal to the
Coloured Citizens of the World,'[F]or coloured people to acquire learning in this country, makes tyrants quake and tremble.... The bare name
of educating the coloured people, scares our cruel oppressors almost to
death" (31-32). Literacy among free African Americans not only empowers the individual but also strikes at the foundation of slavery. Notably, when Walker specifies the type of education that will grant agency to
African Americans, he emphasizes rhetorical expertise, such as "the ability to write a neat piece of composition" and knowledge of "the width
and depth of English Grammar"(31).
Suggesting this connection, the FLA member demonstrates the radical potential of literacy and exhorts her audience to avail themselves of
this influence. Their efforts at rhetorical education, she suggests, directly
affect the slaves as they empower themselves. Although she implies that
their acquisition of rhetorical skill will help dispel societal prejudices,
she clearly asserts thatAfrican Americans should not try to emulate whites
or defer to their judgment:
Too long has it been the policy of ourenemies to persuadeus thatwe
[free people of color] are a superiorrace to the slaves, and that our
superiorityis owing to a mixturewith the whites. Away with this
idea, cast it from you with the indignationit deserves, and dare to
assert that the black man is equal by nature with the white, and that
slavery and not his color has debased him. Yet dare to tell our enemies, thatwith the powerfulweaponsof religionand education,we
will do battle with the host of prejudicewhich surroundus, satisfied
RHETORIC SOCIETY QUARTERLY
36
thatin the end we shall be more than conquerors. (A2)
Throughmartialimageryreminiscentof Whipper'sspeech, this woman
arguesthatrhetoricaleducationis not an exclusive enterprise-a spiritof elitism, in fact, dividesAfricanAmericans,thus serving the agenda of their "enemies." Given the opportunity,all can attain the education she advocates,
and, throughthe FLA's work, she and her sisters are striving to give others
thatchance.
Laterin her address,this FLA memberevokes a key oratoricalforebear
to reiteratethe radicalimplicationsof rhetoricalprowess. Her descriptionof
Demosthenes underscoresher point that in the "battle"against "the host of
prejudice,"trainingin rhetoricis a necessary weapon:
By perseverancethe greatDemosthenes was enabled to overcome a
naturaldefect in his pronunciation,so great,that on his first attempt
to speakin public, he was hissed: to rid himself of it, he built a vault
where he might practice without disturbance. His efforts were
crownedwith the most brilliantsuccess, he became the firstoratorof
the age, and his eloquence was more dreadedby Philip than all the
fleets and armiesof Athens. (A2)
Just as Blair (2: 19-23), Campbell(108), and Smith (Lectures29, 179-184)
remarkon Demosthenes'exemplarypersuasion,the FLA memberclaims the
ancientAthenianoratoras an importantmodel. Forher,though,Demosthenes'
example has particularresonance. His developmentas a rhetorillustratesthe
awesome authoritythatcan be acquiredby those who persist in spite of obstacles-even in the face of public rejection or scorn. She remindsthe African-Americanfemale audience that gaining a literaryeducation is an act of
self-assertionand resistance, that great influence accrues to those who use
rhetoricto resist restrictions. As noted above, althoughwhite women at this
time wereoftendiscouragedfrompursuingoratoricaltraining,African-American female literarysociety membersoften claimed the power of oratory.
ADDRESS TO A "MENTAL FEAST"
In an addressreadat a "mentalfeast"in Philadelphiain December 1832,
an unnamedspeakeralso connects literacy to the goals of resistance to oppression and racial unity. She advises her audience to develop "a love of
literatureand religion, that they should remove that spirit of indifference,of
pride, of prejudice,which (I grieve to say) exists amongst us, and to unite us
as a band of sisters in the great work of improvement"(A3). Yet they will
never be able to achieve this unity, she argues, without sympathy-particularly sympathy with slaves. Referring to a gruesome narrativefrom John
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37
Rankin'sLetterson AmericanSlavery, she illustratesthe power of sympathy
to establishbonds between slave and free:
Is thereone present,whose heartwas not sad, and whose cheek wore
not the glow of indignation,on readingthe account of the inhuman
treatmentof a poor slave boy, containedin Mr.Rankin'seighthletter?
Did not fancybringbeforeyou the hut-the blazingfire? Saw you not
his brethrenassembledby tyrannyto witness his punishment,and yet
forbadeto expresstheirsympathyin his pangs[?]... Do you not, even
now,see themasterwiththemalignantaspectof a demon,bindinghis victim? Theaxeis raised-for a momentit is suspendedin theair-it fallshis feet areseveredandthrownquiveringandreekingintotheflames....
Shriekspiercingenoughto melta heartof stone,burstfromthesufferer....
We... willdrawa veil overthisappallingpicture,andask,whatshallwe do
effectuallyto serveourrace? I answer,be united.... (A3)
The anonymous rhetor's vivid description, which enlivens the scene
throughpresent-tensenarration,a clear focus on the emotional states of the
participants,and a kindof slow-motion renderingof the atrocity,fulfills eighteenth-centurymandatesaboutmanagingthe emotional response of the audience. In fact, her use of the terms "fancy"and "sympathy,"drawn directly
fromthe rhetoricaltheoryof the previousera, demonstratesan understanding
of the cooperativerelationshipamongthe faculties. Her series of increasingly
graphicrhetoricalquestions, along with the antitheses that characterizethe
responses of the victim, the perpetrator,and the unwilling witnesses to the
violence, suggests the grand style that persuadesby moving the passions to
affect the will.
Yet these traditionalstrategies combine with appeals to radical goals,
particularlyto the power of literacy to counter oppression. The association
between the cultivationof "a love of literature"and antislaveryagitationthat
would bring about an end to the horrorssuch as those described in Rankin's
Letterson AmericanSlavery depends upon the notion, described above, that
self-help among free AfricanAmericanscould furtherthe cause of abolition.
As previously noted, literacy could be a powerful tool of resistance. The
speakermay not directly invoke these militantimplications, but by stressing
the relationshipof literacyto unity and to the fight against slavery,she evokes
the radicalpotential of the educationalplatformof her literary society. The
consequences of her connection between educationaladvancementand freedom are implicit in the structureof her argument. Relating the gruesome
scene of the slave's punishment,she emphasizesthe indifferenceof the heartless master,who "pausesto lecture upon the folly of disobeying his orders"
and is unmoved by the slave's cries of agony (A3). "[A]las!" she laments,
38
RHETORIC SOCIETY QUARTERLY
"the heart of the slaveholder is harderthan the nether millstone. . ." (A3).
After narratingthis horribleincident, one might expect her to call her audience to arms. Insteadshe implicitly offers them an alternativecourse of action to fight oppression such as that which she has related. She turnsto the
indifferenceof anothergroup-those AfricanAmericanswho rejectthe search
for educationaland moral advancement: "I have been woundedto see those,
who profess to be followers of Christ, treat [mentalcultivationand religion]
with coldness. . ." (A3). Constructingan implicitparallelbetweenthose who
are complacent about the value of mental pursuitsand a murderer,she calls
them to take an actionthat,in the context of fightingthe terribleoppressionof
slavery,is inherentlyradical. The passionateresponseshe evokes by creating
sympathy with oppressed slaves leads to an outcome beyond the traditional
emotional boundariesof Enlightenmentthought, suggesting that sympathy
can be a force for grantingagency to the oppressed.
In anothersense, as well, the study of literatureandrhetoricplay a central
role in this speaker'svision. Drawing upon Scots principles-Blair's recommendations in particular-to endorse literarypursuits for her fellow members, she puts these ideals in service of a goal specific to the plight of oppressedAfricanAmericans. She advises,
My sisters . . . let us seek mental cultivation; it is of inestimable
value; it not only beautifies and renderslife a blessing, but it will
irradiatethe gloomy vale of death. "In a mind absolutely vacant,"
says Dr. Blair, "tranquillityis seldom found. The vacancytoo often
will be filled up by bad desires and passions; whereasthe mind of a
wise man is a kingdom to itself. In his lonely or melancholyhours,
he finds always resources within himself, to which he can turnfor
relief." (A3)
Althoughwe have been unableto identify definitivelythe sourceof this quote,
her renderingof Blair's position on "mentalcultivation"resembleshis advice
about the "cultivationof taste":
[Life] will frequentlylanguisheven in the handsof the busy, if they
have not some employmentsubsidiaryto thatwhich formstheirmain
pursuit. How then shall these vacantspaces ... be filled up? How
can we contrive to dispose of them in any way that shall be more
agreeable .
.
. than in the entertainments of taste, and the study of
polite literature?He who is so happyas to have acquireda relishfor
these, has always at handan innocentand irreproachableamusement
for his leisure hours, to save him from the dangerof many a pernicious passion. (1: 11)
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The similaritiesbetween the two passages suggest that this speakerembraces
the "belletristicidealism'?of Blair and his contemporaries,and believes that
her audience's endeavorsto cultivate what Blair calls taste will improvetheir
lives in moral, even spiritualways.
Yet the differences between the two passages are striking. Whereasthe
passage from the Lecturesfocuses on "entertainment"and "amusement,"the
text quoted by the anonymousrhetoruses the same kind of language to emphasize solace in the face of greathardship. The comfort element of "mental
cultivation"is particularlyapparentwhen one considers the first section of
the speech, which provides graphicdetails of the tortureand abuse of fellow
African Americans. Eighteenth-centuryScots principles, originally formulated as partof an assimilationistpedagogy, become for this rhetora form of
resistance for the oppressed. In addition, the principles of taste and mental
cultivationfurthercommunal goals. As noted above, taste was conceived by
Blair and other eighteenth-centuryScots theorists in private terms, making
criticism an individual act. In her argumentfor racial solidarity,though, this
anonymousfemale rhetorof color describestasteor mentalcultivationin civic,
ratherthanprivate,terms.
CONCLUSION
Our analysis demonstratesthat rhetoricalpedagogy was central to the
agendaof the antebellumAfrican-Americanliterarysocieties of Philadelphia.
This finding casts light on the possible courses of study followed by many
African-Americanrhetorswhose education may otherwise be unknown. In
additionto those whose rhetoricis explored above, many other leadersof the
PhiladelphiaAfrican-Americancommunitywere members of literarysocieties. Although the specific details of their education are often unavailable,
their association with literary societies helps illuminate potential aspects of
their trainingin rhetoric. The fact that the works of Blair are cited by both
Whipper and an FLA member, for example, suggests that Scots rhetorical
theory was studied in variousAfrican-Americangroups.
American
This study also furthersour understandingof nineteenth-century
rhetorical
theoryandpractice.Beyondtheprivilegedsphereof theuniversityclassroom, Philadelphia African Americans studied classical and Enlightenment rhetoric-but also transformedthem and made them their own. The
study and practice of oratory by female members of Philadelphia's African-American literary societies expand our view of women's rhetoric in
antebellum America. It is gratifying to discover ways in which AfricanAmerican women, who were doubly oppressed, shaped conventional rhetoricalprinciplesin ways that were particularlyempowering.
The richness of the texts we considerreaffirmsLinda Ferreira-Buckley's
call for increased archivalscholarshipby historiansof rhetoricand suggests
40
RHETORIC SOCIETY QUARTERLY
numerous avenues for research that will furtherexpand and invigorate our
field. Additionalstudies could featurethe texts of literarysociety membersin
other cities such as New Yorkand Boston, the ways in which the trainingin
literary societies influenced discourse in other African-Americanorganizations such as antislavery societies, and other sources of rhetoricaltraining
such as the curriculumoffered in African-Americanschools. Ourincorporation of recentscholarshipby historians,literarycritics,andAfricanAmericanists
demonstratesthatworkdone in variousdisciplinescan contributeto the study
of the history of rhetoric.
Finally, our exploration demonstratesthat the search for discourse that
illuminatesrhetoricaltheoryandpracticemust pushbeyondwell-knowntexts.
FrederickDouglass's discussion of the impact of the ColunibianOrator on
his development as a rhetorhas led to productiveresearch,but the work of
rhetorsless familiarto contemporaryscholars-even those whose texts were
published anonymously-leads to new understandingof marginalizedrhetoric. Scholarssuchas ShirleyLogan,SusanJarratt,andJacquelineJonesRoyster
have combined archivalresearchandrhetoricalanalysisto explorenew texts,
therebyexpanding the field of the history of African-Americanrhetoric. As
more sources of nineteenth-centuryAfrican-Americanrhetoricare studied,
the importantspeeches and writings of Douglass need not be examined in
isolation but as partof a largerlandscapeof African-Americantexts.
This is hardly a new idea. Even in his own time, contemporariesof
FrederickDouglass suggested thatan appreciationof his persuasionrequired
the context of other African-Americanrhetors. In 1852, William G. Allen,
one of three African-Americanprofessors at New York CentralCollege in
McGrawville, addressedthe predominantlywhite institution'sDialexian Society on oratorsand oratory.Allen discusses the oratoryof Douglass, as well
as the contributionsof African-AmericanabolitionistsSamuelRinggoldWard,
Henry Highland Garnet,and CharlesLenox Remond. Of African-American
oratorsin general,he remarks,"Alreadyhave they done somethingto achieve
a place among those who have writtentheir names in large letters upon the
pages of the orator'shistory ..." (242). It remainsfor us to open these pages,
to read these names.
Acknowledgments: The authorswould like to acknowledge the generous
assistance of Ellen Quandahland an anonymousreviewer for RSQ.
Jacqueline Bacon, Sail Diego, California
Glen McClish,Sail Diego State University
Notes
'On the potentialinfluence of the ColumbianOratoron Douglass's development as a rhetor,see Lampe ix, 1-6, 9-13, 33-58; Andrews 592; Fanuzzi;Fishkin
BACON & MCCLISH/MASTER'STOOLS
41
and Petersonl90-92; Blassingame xxii-xxiii, xlviii; Logan, "Influence";Stephens.
2
We focus on Philadelphiabecause it has been identifiedas the leader in
the creationof African-Americanliterarysocieties (Porter,"OrganizedActivities"
558-64; Perkins, "BlackWomen"325; Winch 101). LindaPerkinsstates, "In 1849,
over half of the black populationbelonged to one of the 106 literaryorganizationsof
the city" ("BlackWomen"327). Not surprisingly,most of the extant texts from
antebellumAfrican-Americanliterarysocieties we have been able to locate are from
Philadelphia.
3 See, for example,Sterling110-13;Winch;McHenry,"DreadedEloquence";
McHenry, "Rereading"; McHenry, "Forgotten Readers"; McHenry and Heath;
Lindhorst;Moon. For early work in this area,see Porter,"OrganizedActivities."
4On the Augustine Society, see Nash 219, 270.
5 Although we believe it is likely thatall four orationswere deliveredbefore
Philadelphia'sFemale LiteraryAssociation, the precise identificationof the group or
groups addressed in two-Sarah Douglass's "Address"and the anonymously published "AddressRead at a Mental Feast"-has not been established(Lindhorst264).
To avoid ambiguity,we cite the three anonymous 1832 addresseswith the following
abbreviations: Al is the "Address to the Female LiteraryAssociation of Philadelphia,"publishedin the Liberator9 June 1832;A2 is the "Addressto the Female LiteraryAssociation of Philadelphia,on TheirFirstAnniversary:By a Member,"published
in the Liberator 13 Oct. 1832; andA3 is the "AddressRead at a Mental Feast," published in the Liberator8 December 1832. SarahDouglass's "Address"andthe thirdof
the anonymous sources were likely given to the same society-both are identified as
Philadelphiaorganizationsthat hold "mentalfeasts" monthly,and both speakersnote
that the groups were formed as a resultof the suggestionof white Philadelphiaabolitionist Simeon S. Jocelyn.
6 As Shirley Logan and Carla Peterson have argued,African traditionsof
literacyand forms of rhetoricinspiredthe discourseof antebellumAfricanAmericans.
Both note that it is difficult, however, to determineAfricanroots for specific AfricanAmericanrhetoricalpractices. See Logan, "WeAre Coming"24-27; Peterson22, 242.
7See, for example, Gates,Figuresin Black;Gates,SignifyingMonkey;hooks
167-75;Logan, "WeAreComing"23-43;Bacon,"DoYouUnderstand";
Bacon, 'Taking
Liberty";ConditandLucaites;Lucaites;Jasinski;Jarratt;FishkinandPeterson.
8 See also Gates, Figures in Black 11-13, 108; Cornelius2-3, 17, 61; Bacon,
'Taking Liberty"272-73; McHenry,"ForgottenReaders"151;Warren121-27.
9 Ourhistoricaloverviewis informedby the followingsources: Porter,"Organized Activities";Porter,EarlyNegro Writing79-166; McHenry,"DreadedEloquence";
McHenry,"ForgottenReaders";McHenryand Heath;Foner 245-48; Whipper,"Address."
'?For furtherreadingon the FLA, see Winch 104-09, 112-14;Lindhorst.
11By the late eighteenth century,the influence of faculty psychology had
extended beyond the university to various aspects of Americanintellectual life (see
Farrell;Howe).
12 Adam Smith's lectures on rhetoricand belles lettres,which were not pubAmerica. Because his work is
lished until 1963, were unknownin nineteenth-century
highly representativeof Scots rhetoricaltheory, however, and because rhetoricians
such as Blair were heavily influenced by him, we have included references to his
42
RHETORICSOCIETYQUARTERLY
lectureshere.
3 See also Kitzhaber1-4; Adams 3-4.
14 See also Campbelllxxiii.
15 The influence of the belletristicconception of taste and the emphasis on
canonicalauthorsas models are illustratedby the popularlectures of Harvardprofessor EdwardT. Channing(see, for example, 154-56, 164, 228).
16 See Bator;
Spence- Burks.
17 See also Campbell96; Blair 2: 217.
18 See Miller,"Rhetoric";Miller, Formation;
Warnick;Conley 216-23.
19On Whipper,see also McCormick;Ripley et al. 129-30; Lessl.
20
Whipper'sinterestin facultypsychology and the rhetoricof Campbelland
Blair has been documentedby Lessl (376-77).
21 American Negro Historical Society Papers, box 5G: folder
7, box SG:
folder 10, box 5G: folder 17.
22 On the
antirhetoricalstance of the Royal Society and Locke, see Potkay
51-60; Conley 168-70, 191-92; Shapiro;Patton;Weedon. For a contrastingview of
the Royal Society's stance towardrhetoric,see Vickers.
23 It is not entirelycoincidentalthat Blair includes a similarclaim in the first
chapterof his treatise: "I will not deny thatthe love of minuteelegance, and attention
to inferiorornamentsof composition, may at present have engrossed too great a degree of the public regard. It is indeed my opinion, that we lean to this extreme;often
more carefulof polishing style, thanof storing it with thought"(1: 7). Surely Blair is
less the democratthan Whipper,but his expressed distrust of a studied ornateness
aligns with Whipper'sargumentin ways that benefit the case of the abolitionist. On
the rise of a form of democraticeloquence in antebellumAmerica, see Cmiel.
24 Blair,for example,arguesthatalthough"rhetoricand criticismhave sometimes been so managedas to tendto the corruption... of good tasteandtrueeloquence.
. . it is equallypossibleto applythe principlesof reasonandgood sense to this art.. .."(1:
3). In his chapterentitled"Ofthe Considerationwhich the Speakeroughtto have of the
Hearers.as men in general,"Campbellarguesthatoratoryis ethical "if we give reason
herself that influence which is certainlyher due" (71). The motions of rhetoric,he
continues,"arenot the supplantersof reason,"but "herhandmaids,by whose ministry
she is enabledto ushertruthinto the heart,and procureit therea favorablereception"
(72).
25 Establishinga theoryof rhetoricalmotivationbasedon the audience'sdominant passion, Lord Chesterfieldproposes ambition as one of the primarymeans of
persuasion(see McClish). Whereasfor Chesterfieldthe strengthof the appealto ambition is a sortof dirtysecret or unfortunateconsequence of humanweakness, though,
for Whipperthe motivationalforce of ambitionis ennobling.
26 For more complete biographicalinformationon Saunders,see White.
27 On the response in antebellumAmerica to the revolution in Haiti, see
Hunt.
28 For furtherreadingon Douglass, see Sterling 110-11 1, 126-33; Lindhorst
263-64.
29 This dangerwas enhancedby the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793, which denied due processto abductedAfricanAmericanssaid to be runaways. MarieLindhorst
(266-68) and DorothySterling(126) providean alternativesourcefor Douglass'sanxi-
BACON& MCCLISH/MASTER'STOOLS
43
ety,namelythe restrictivelegislationproposed(butnot passed)in Pennsylvaniain 183132 in the wake of the Nat Turnerinsurrection.
30 On this connection,see Lincoln and Mamiya5; Logan, "WeAre Coming"
24-27, 55.
31On this traditionalantebellumperspectiveof women's education,see Welter
15, 35. On the ways this view influencedAfrican-Americanwomen andwas at the same
timeredefinedandchallengedbyAfrican-American
women'sexperiences,see Loewenberg
andBogin 21; Terborg-Penn30; Perkins,"BlackWomen";Perkins,"impact"17-21.
32 See Quarles;Hinks;Horton;Hortonand Horton;Bacon, "Rethinking."
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