A vernacular republican rhetoric:: William!Manning's Key of Libberty Academic Article

abstract

• Our analysis of farmer and tavern-keeper William Manning's 1798 Key of Libberty extends the concept of American republican rhetoric to include both elite and vernacular forms. We find that the key components of Manning's vernacular republicanism are: an aggressive use of the rhetoric of critique; the demand for transparency in public argument; the rejection of elite leadership; and the belief that decisions must be made in the interest of the common good. We compare vernacular to elite republicanism and conclude that the vernacular perspective has endured in American reform rhetoric.

authors

• Mercieca, Jennifer

published proceedings

• QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF SPEECH

altmetric score

• 5.3

author list (cited authors)

• Mercieca, J. R., & Aune, J. A.

citation count

• 7

complete list of authors

• Mercieca, JR||Aune, JA

publication date

• May 2005

publisher

• Taylor & Francis  Publisher

keywords

• Elite Republicanism
• Key Of Libberty
• Rhetoric
• Vernacular Republicanism
• William Manning

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1080/00335630500291299

URI

• https://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/186281

start page

• 119

end page

• 143

volume

• 91

issue

• 2

URL

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00335630500291299