The Strategy of Rhetoric

by Riker, William H.; Calvert, Randall L.; Mueller, John; Wilson, Rick K.

• ISBN13: 9780300061697
• ISBN10: 0300061692
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1996-12-01
• Publisher: Yale Univ Pr

Summary

This book, the last work of an eminent political scientist, is an innovative study of political persuasion during the 1787-88 campaign to ratify the U.S. Constitution. Employing historical and rational choice analysis to examine the rhetoric and strategic maneuvers the victorious Federalists used, William H. Riker develops new tools and approaches to advance the science of political campaigns.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	vii	(1)
List of Tables	viii	(3)
Editors' Preface	xi	(2)
List of Abbreviations	xiii	(1)
Chronology	xiv
I INTRODUCTION	3	(12)
1 The Core of Campaigning: Rhetoric and Heresthetic	3	(12)
II THE RHETORIC OF THE RATIFICATION CAMPAIGNS	15	(84)
2 Shaping the Alternatives: The Proposed Constitution of 1787	15	(8)
3 Data and Methods for the Study of Campaigns	23	(9)
4 Campaign Themes	32	(17)
5 The Utility of Negative Themes	49	(26)
6 Rhetorical Interaction in the Campaigns	75	(24)
III GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF RHETORICAL INTERACTION	99	(30)
7 Toward a Theory of Rhetoric in Campaigns	99	(11)
8 Evidence about Dominance and Dispersion	110	(19)
IV THE HERESTHETIC OF THE RATIFICATION CAMPAIGNS	129	(124)
9 The Agenda for Ratification	129	(10)
10 Nationalist Domination in the Congresses of the 1780s	139	(8)
11 Nationalist Domination of the Selection of Delegates to the Philadelphia Convention	147	(16)
12 The Nationalist Strategy for Ratification	163	(20)
13 Massachusetts: The Federalist Coalition Expands	183	(26)
14 The Federalists Regain Momentum	209	(11)
15 Virginia and the Failure of Antifederalism	220	(9)
16 New York: Federalists Outflank Antifederalists	229	(12)
17 Forging the Final Constitution	241	(12)
V CONCLUSIONS	253	(12)
18 Rhetoric and Heresthetic	253	(12)
Appendix: Rhetorical Themes, 1787-88	265	(10)
Index	275