Research Catalog
The strategy of rhetoric : campaigning for the American Constitution / William H. Riker ; edited by Randall L. Calvert, John Mueller, Rick K. Wilson.
- Title
- The strategy of rhetoric : campaigning for the American Constitution / William H. Riker ; edited by Randall L. Calvert, John Mueller, Rick K. Wilson.
- Author
- Riker, William H.
- Publication
- New Haven, [Conn.] : Yale University Press, c1996.
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| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text | Request in advance | JK116 .R55 1996 | Off-site |
Details
- Additional Authors
- Description
- xv, 283 p. : ill.; 24 cm.
- Summary
- This book, the last work of an eminent political scientist, is an innovative study of persuasion in a landmark political event: the 1787-88 campaign to ratify the United States Constitution. William Riker uses both historical and rational choice analysis to examine the rhetoric and strategic manipulations used in this campaign, and he points out patterns and principles that should be applicable to political campaigns in general. Riker examines the campaign's rhetoric and derives strategic principles that seem to guide campaigners. These principles explain, among other things, the frequent reliance on negative themes in campaigns. He also investigates what he calls "heresthetic"--How campaigners structured situations so that their preferred outcome was more likely to occur. He discusses several heresthetical maneuvers that made the Federalists' narrow victory possible, such as their proposal of a constitution that was broader than most citizens would have preferred, and their design of the ratification process as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition, so that they could prevent any ratifying state from altering it. Riker concludes by examining the relationship between rhetoric and heresthetic. He shows that both were necessary for the Federalist victory: rhetoric, to build support for Federalist positions, and heresthetic, to structure the choice process so that this level of support would be sufficient. His analysis yields a new understanding of the ratification campaign, and the tools and approaches he develops lead toward the further development of the science of political campaigns, of political rhetoric generally, and of the art and science of heresthetic.
- Subjects
- Genre/Form
- History
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Processing Action (note)
- committed to retain
- Contents
- 1. The Core of Campaigning: Rhetoric and Heresthetic -- 2. Shaping the Alternatives: The Proposed Constitution of 1787 -- 3. Data and Methods for the Study of Campaigns -- 4. Campaign Themes -- 5. The Utility of Negative Themes -- 6. Rhetorical Interaction in the Campaigns -- 7. Toward a Theory of Rhetoric in Campaigns -- 8. Evidence about Dominance and Dispersion -- 9. The Agenda for Ratification -- 10. Nationalist Domination in the Congresses of the 1780s -- 11. Nationalist Domination of the Selection of Delegates to the Philadelphia Convention -- 12. The Nationalist Strategy for Ratification -- 13. Massachusetts: The Federalist Coalition Expands -- 14. The Federalists Regain Momentum -- 15. Virginia and the Failure of Antifederalism -- 16. New York: Federalists Outflank Antifederalists -- 17. Forging the Final Constitution -- 18. Rhetoric and Heresthetic -- Appendix. Rhetorical Themes, 1787-88.
- ISBN
- 0300061692 (alk. paper)
- LCCN
- ^^^96012669^
- OCLC
- 34411624
- SCSB-9902798
- Owning Institutions
- Harvard Library