SYLLABUS

• Required Texts
• Course Description
• Course Objectives
• Course Requirements
• Grading Scale
• Necessary Policies
• Course Assignment Descriptions
• Speaker Analysis Checklist
• Weekly Schedule

Required Texts:

• Howard Zinn (2004). A People's History of the United States. New York: Harper & Row.
• Speech texts and other readings are online. See the weekly schedule for URLs.
  

Course Description: In the United States, public speeches have shaped historical events while paradoxically being shaped by them. By learning about past events and speeches, we will be better able to understand present events and perhaps realize our responsibility to speak out for what we believe in. We may also come to a better understanding of how to recognize, prepare, and deliver a "great" speech.

Course Objectives: After taking this course, students should be able to:

1. identify major public address themes in United States history.
2. identify and discuss the influential speakers and speeches of United States history.
3. perform an oral interpretation of great speeches.
4. determine what constitutes a "great" speech
5. compose a persuasive manuscript speech.
6. deliver a persuasive manuscript speech dealing with his or her own perception of the "state of the union."
   

Course Requirements:

1. Speaker Analysis Paper (200 points)
2. Oral Interpretation speech/manuscript (300 points)
3. Service Learning Group Presentation (200)
4. Student State of the Union Speech/manuscript (300 points)
   

Grading Scale

• 930 - 1000 = A
• 900 - 929 = A/B
• 850 - 899 = B
• 800 - 849 = B/C
• 750 - 799 = C
• 700 - 749 = C/D
• 650 - 699 = D
• below 650 = F
  

Necessary Policies

1. Please arrive to class on time.
2. Academic dishonesty will be penalized in accordance with the guidelines set forth in the student handbook.
3. Late papers subtract 20 points for each day late (Subtraction begins at the end of the class period in which the paper is due).
4. All papers must be typed.
5. Two absences are allowed with no penalty. Subtract 20 points for each unexcused absence.
6. Please be ready to speak on your assigned day.
   

Course Assignments: Each will be discussed more in class.

1. Speaker Analysis Paper (200 points): The paper is due on Friday, March 11. The paper must be at least 10 pages long and must address all of the items on the "Speaker Analysis Checklist" (attached). Each student will be assigned a speaker and speech that will be covered in this class.
2. Oral Interpretation Speech/Manuscript (300 points): All manuscripts are due on March 28 (Monday). The speeches will take place all of that week. The general idea is to select a theme from American History (e.g. third party movements, education, etc.) and locate at least three different speeches (all by different speakers) that address the theme. Then, put together a manuscript consisting of an introduction that explains the significance of the theme, a body that presents blocks of quotes from the three speeches, and a conclusion that reinforces the importance of the theme for today's society. The oral interpretation speech must be 8-10 minutes. The manuscript is worth 200 points and the oral interpretation speech is worth 100 points.
3. Service Learning Group Presentations (200 points): Each student will work in a small group and present his or her oral interpretation speech to a history class at Webster Stanley Middle School in Oshkosh. The group presentations will take place in late April. We will discuss this extensively in class.
4. Student State Of The Union Speech/Manuscript (300 points): Every year the president of the United States delivers a State of the Union speech. What is your view of the State of the Union? Your speech must be 10-15 minutes and be delivered in a manuscript style. The manuscript is worth 200 points and the speech is worth 100. We'll discuss this in more depth in class.

Speaker Analysis Checklist

• Name of Orator
• Title of Speech
• Occasion/Place Delivered
• Date Speech Delivered
  

1. Brief Rhetorical Biography of the Speaker

• General biography and important life events
  • Life chronology
  • Family influences (class, occupation, values)
  • Public career and important experiences
  • Forces shaping values and ideology
    

   

• Rhetorical biography
  • Education and rhetorical training
  • Nature and extent of public speaking experiences
  • Significance of oratory in the speaker's life and career
  • Methods of preparation and delivery
  • Characteristics of general rhetorical style
    

   

  2. The Rhetorical Situation for the Speech
  

• The Exigence:
  • What issue led to the decision to speak?
  • What was the specific occasion for the speech?
  • What were the prevailing opinions on the issue?
• The Audiences (Immediate and Secondary):
  • What were the demographics of the audiences? (size, age, background, etc.)
  • What were the audiences' level of knowledge about the speech topic?
  • What were the audiences' attitudes toward the speech topic?
• The Constraints:
  • What were the situational or institutional constraints?
  • What constraints were created by the audience?
  • What constraints were created by the speaker?

3. Speech Purpose and Arguments

• What was the speaker's specific purpose?
• What were the main claims advanced?
• What arguments did the speaker use to support the claims?
• Why did the arguments persuade or fail to persuade?

4. Organization, Style, and Delivery

• Organization:
  • How does the introduction frame the issue(s) for the audience(s)?
  • Is the purpose made clear in the introduction?
  • How does the structure of the arguments contribute to persuasion?
• Style:
  • Did the language give life to the ideas and arguments? (Give examples & quotes)
  • What was unique about the speaker's style?
• Delivery:
  • Was the speech impromptu, extemporaneous, or prepared?
  • What did observers say about the quality or effect of the delivery?

5. Historical and Rhetorical Value

• Why was the speech considered important?
• Why does the speech remain important and valuable for the study of American Public Address?
• What can we learn about effective rhetoric from the examples of this speech?
• Does the speech still provide understanding of events, ideas, issues, values, etc.?

6. Bibliography

• General biographical sources on the rhetor.
• Books and journal articles analyzing the rhetoric of the speaker or the speech.

7. Attach text of the speech

Weekly Schedule

Week #1: Course Introduction

• Jan. 31(M): Course Intro
• Feb. 2(W): On History
  o Zinn, Chapter 1
• Feb. 4 (F): On Public Address
  o Meg Zulick's Modes of American Discourse http://www.wfu.edu/%7Ezulick/340/modes.html
  

Week #2: Native American Condition

• Feb. 7(M): Zinn Chapters 3 and 7
• Feb. 9(W):
  o The First Thanksgiving Proclamation http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/thanksgiv.html
  o President Andrew Jackson's case for Indian Removal http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/andrew.htm
• Feb. 11(F):
  o Chief Seattle's 1854 Oration http://www.halcyon.com/arborhts/chiefsea.html
  o Russell Means, "For American To Live, Europe Must Die" http://www.russellmeans.com/speech.html

Week #3: Colonial and Contemporary Sermons

• Feb.14(M):
  o Christine Leigh Heyrman, "The First Great Awakening" http://www.nhc.rtp.nc.us:8080/tserve/eighteen/ekeyinfo/grawaken.htm
  o Campbell, Donna M. "Forms Of Puritan Rhetoric: The Jeremiad and the Conversion Narrative." http://www.gonzaga.edu/faculty/campbell/enl310/jeremiad.htm
• Feb. 16(W):
  o Jonathan Edwards, "Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God" http://www.jonathanedwards.com/sermons/Warnings/sinners.htm
  o George Whitefield, "The Eternity of Hell-Torments" http://www.txdirect.net/~tgarner/whit51.htm
  o -Robert G. Ingersoll, "How To Be Saved" http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/robert_ingersoll/how_to_be_saved.html
• Feb. 18(F):
  o Harry Emerson Fosdick, "Shall The Fundamentalists Win?" http://www.hyattcarter.com/shall_the_fundamentalists_win.htm
  o Martin Luther King, Jr. "Loving Your Enemies" http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/sermons/571117.002_Loving_Your_Enemies.html
  o Billy Graham, "God Cares For Us" http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/9/14/210257.shtml

Week #4: The Debate Over The US Constitution

• Feb. 21(M):
  o Zinn Chapters 4 and 5
  o The Iroquois Constitution http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/iroquois.html
  o The Constitution of the United States http://www.law.emory.edu/FEDERAL/usconst.html
• Feb. 23(W):
  o Alexander Hamilton, Federalist #9 http://www.law.emory.edu/FEDERAL/federalist/feder9.html
  o James Madison, Federalist #10 http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/federal/fed10.htm
  o Alexander Hamilton, Federalist #15 http://douglass.speech.nwu.edu/fp15_a47.htm
  o Anti-Federalist #1: http://www.iahushua.com/hist/afp1.html#one
• Feb. 25(F):
  o Patrick Henry "Against The Federal Constitution" http://www.wfu.edu/~zulick/340/henry.html
  o Ben Franklin on the Constitution, http://www.usconstitution.net/franklin.html
  o George Washington's Farewell Address http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/washbye.html

Week #5: Abolitionist Rhetoric

• Feb. 28(M): Zinn Chapter 9
• March 2(W):
  o John C. Calhoun, "Slavery a Positive Good" http://douglassarchives.org/calh_a59.htm
  o Frederick Douglass, "What to the Slave Is The Fourth Of July?"http://douglassarchives.org/doug_a10.htm
  o William Lloyd Garrison, "No Compromise With The Evil Of Slavery" http://members.aol.com/jfepperson/garrison.html
  o John Brown's Speech to the Court http://www.nationalcenter.org/JohnBrown'sSpeech.html
• March 4(F):
  o Wendell Phillips "The Murder of Lovejoy" http://www.libertystory.net/LSACTIONPHILLIPS.htm and http://www.libertystory.net/LSDOCPHILLIPSLOVEJOY.htm
  o Abraham Lincoln, "House Divided" Speech http://www.historyplace.com/lincoln/divided.htm
  o Abraham Lincoln, "Cooper Institute Address" http://douglassarchives.org/linc_a89.htm

Week #6: The Rhetoric of Women's Rights

• March 7(M):
  o Zinn Chapter 6 and pp. 334-338, 494-504
  o Declaration of Sentiments http://www.pbs.org/stantonanthony/resources/index.html?body=dec_sentiments.html
• March 9(W):
  o Emma Willard Biography http://www.britannica.com/women/articles/Willard_Emma_Hart.html
  o Emma Willard "Education and the Weaker Sex"http://search.eb.com/women/pri/Q00165.html
  o Lucy Stone's reading of the Resolutions at the Third Women's Rights Convention in New York City in 1853: http://www.iath.virginia.edu/whitman/classroom/student_projects/bernie/stone.html#stone
  o Elizabeth Cady Stanton, "Solitude of Self" http://www.pbs.org/stantonanthony/resources/index.html?body=solitude_self.html
• March 11(F):
  o Margaret Sanger, "No Gods, No Masters" http://www.historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5084/
  o The Woman Rebel http://www.lib.virginia.edu/small/exhibits/censored/sanger.html
  o Shirley Chisolm, "Equal Rights For Women"http://gos.sbc.edu/c/chisholm.html

March 12 - 20: Spring Break

Week #7: Wealth and Poverty

• March 21(M): Zinn Chapters 11-15
• March 23(W):
  o Andrew Carnegie, "The Gospel of Wealth" http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1889carnegie.html
  o Henry George on the Crime of Poverty http://home5.inet.tele.dk/pma/8-poverty.htm
  o Huey P. Long, "Share The Wealth" (Scroll Down To 1930s) http://www.pbs.org/greatspeeches/timeline/
• March 25(F):
  o Franklin Roosevelt, First Inaugural http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fdrfirstinaugural.html
  o Lyndon Johnson's Great Society Speech http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/great.html
  o President George H.W. Bush's "Good Society" Speech (University of Michigan Commencement 1991) http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/research/papers/1991/91050401.html
  

Week #8: Student Oral Interpretation Presentations

• March 28(M): Student Presentations
• March 30(W): Student Presentations
• April 1(F): Student Presentations
  

Week #9: War and Peace

• April 4(M): Zinn Chapter 16 and 18
• April 6(W):
  o Samuel Adams, "American Independence" http://douglassarchives.org/adam_a29.htm
  o James K. Polk "War Message" http://douglassarchives.org/polk_a57.htm
  o Abraham Lincoln, "Second Inaugural Address" http://douglassarchives.org/linc_a74.htm
  o Albert Beveridge, "The March of the Flag"http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1898beveridge.html
  o Franklin Roosevelt, "The Arsenal of Democracy" http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fdrarsenalofdemocracy.html
  o Franklin Roosevelt's War Message http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fdrpearlharbor.htm
  o Franklin Roosevelt, "The Four Freedoms"http://www.luminet.net/~tgort/fdr.htm
  o Four Freedoms Posters http://www.archives.gov/exhibit_hall/powers_of_persuasion/four_freedoms/four_freedoms.html
  o Richard Nixon, "Silent Majority" http://www.watergate.info/nixon/silent-majority-speech-1969.shtml
  o George W. Bush, "Freedom and Fear are at War" http://douglassarchives.org/bush_c01.htm
• April 8(F):
  o Henry Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience" http://www.cs.indiana.edu/statecraft/civ.dis.html
  o William Jennings Bryan on Imperialism http://www.boondocksnet.com/ai/ailtexts/bryanimp.html
  o Eugene Debs' Speech At Canton http://douglassarchives.org/debs_a78.htm
  o Martin Luther King, "Beyond Vietnam: A Time To Break The Silence" http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/058.html
  o Representative Barbara Lee's Statement in Opposition to the 9/11 Use of Force Resolution
  http://www.wand.org/issuesact/9-11-lee.html
  

Week #10: The Civil Rights Movement

• April 11(M): Zinn Chapter 17
• April 13(W):
  o Martin Luther King's Letter From Birmingham Jail http://almaz.com/nobel/peace/MLK-jail.html
  o John F. Kennedy's Civil Rights Message http://www.jfklibrary.org/j061163.htm
  o George C. Wallace, "The Civil Rights Movement: Fraud, Sham, and Hoax" http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1964WALLACE.html
• April 15(F):
  o Malcolm X, "The Ballot or the Bullet" http://www.pbs.org/greatspeeches/timeline/ (scroll down to 1960s)
  o Stokely Carmichael, Berkeley Speech on Black Power http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/stokelycarmichaelblackpower.html
  o Louis Farrakhan, "Million Man March" speech http://www-cgi.cnn.com/US/9510/megamarch/10-16/transcript/

Week #11: The Rhetoric Of Student Rights

• April 18(M):
  o Zinn chapters 19-22
  o The Port Huron Statement (1962) http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/huron.html
• April 20(W):
  o University of California at Berkeley Free Speech Movement Chronology http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/FSM/chron.html
  o Mario Savio's "An End To History" Speech http://www.fsm-a.org/stacks/endhistorysavio.html
  o Hillary Rodham's 1969 Wellesley Commencement Speech http://www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/Commencement/1969/053169hillary.html
  o Maggie O'Grady's 2004 Wellesley Commencement Speech http://www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/Commencement/2004/ogrady.html
  o UW Oshkosh Student Commencement Speeches http://www.uwosh.edu/commencement/Fall%20Website/assets/Undergraduates/awards.htm
• April 22(F):
  o Mother Jones.Com Top 10 Student Activist Campuses (2001) http://www.motherjones.com/magazine/SO01/top10.html
  o Student Activists Are Making Noise, But Is Anybody Listening? http://www.uwosh.edu/faculty_staff/palmeri/studentactivists1.htm
  o For Some Students, Sept. 11 Changed Everything http://www.tonypalmeri.com/studentactivism2.htm
  o Patrolling Professor's Politics http://chronicle.com/free/v50/i23/23a01801.htm

Week #12: Writing a Public Address

• April 25(M): Invention
  o The Canons of Rhetoric http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/Canons/Canons.htm
• April 27(W): Arrangement (same web reading)
• April 29(F): Style and Delivery http://www.uky.edu/ArtsSciences/Classics/rhetoric.html

Week #13: Student State of the Union Speeches

• May 2(M): Individual Consultation With Professor
• May 4(W): Student State of the Union Speeches
• May 6(F): Student State of the Union Speeches

Week #14: Student State of the Union Speeches

• May 9(M): Student State of the Union Speeches
• May 11(W): Student State of the Union Speeches
• May 13(F): Student State of the Union Speeches