Article published in:
Opening Windows on Texts and Discourses of the Past
Edited by Janne Skaffari, Matti Peikola, Ruth Carroll, Risto Hiltunen and Brita Wårvik
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 134] 2005
► pp. 53–63

Freedom of speech at stake

Fallacies in some political discourses in the Early Republic

The article reviews the history of freedom of speech in the early American Republic and focuses on two speeches in the House of Representatives, one in the context of the Bill of Rights in 1789 and the other in the context of the Sedition Act in 1798. In the analysis of speeches it is helpful to employ the notion of an informal fallacy. The article offers a definition of the concept and illustrates its application by examining two cases in point,ad socordiamandad hominem, in the authentic material. An awareness of such fallacious arguments is important to the student of political rhetoric and of any discourse meant to be persuasive.
Published online: 24 March 2005
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.134.07rud
Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Rudanko, Juhani
2005. The fallacy of ad socordiam and two types of speaker intentions: a case study from the First Congressional Debate on the Bill of Rights in 1789. Journal of Pragmatics 37:5 ► pp. 723 ff. Crossref logo
Rudanko, Juhani
2021.  In Fallacies and Free Speech, ► pp. 11 ff. Crossref logo

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