Charles E. Morris III (B.A. Boston College, 1991;
M.A., PhD., Pennsylvania State University, 1994, 1998.) Came to Vanderbilt
in 2000. Teaches Public Speaking, Persuasion, the Rhetoric of the
American Experience, Rhetoric and Civic Life, Methods of Rhetorical Analysis,
and the Rhetoric of Social Movements.
CMST/AMST 220
RHETORIC OF THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE
1630 to the CIVIL WAR
FALL 2001
Prof. Chuck Morris
Calhoun Hall 213
343-1346; charles.e.morris@vanderbilt.edu
Office Hours: MF 11-12; T-TH 4-5
And By Appointment
COURSE DESCRIPTION. In his 1805 Inaugural Address as Boylston
Chair of Rhetoric and Oratory at Harvard, John Quincy Adams observed,
�Under governments purely republican, where every citizen has a deep interest
in the affairs of the nation, and, in some form of public assembly or other,
has the means and opportunity of delivering his opinions, and of communicating
his sentiments by speech; where government itself has no arms but those
of persuasion; where prejudice has not acquired an uncontrolled ascendancy,
and faction is yet confined within the barriers of peace; the voice of
eloquence will not be heard in vain. In this course we will explore the
oratorical vision Adams describes, experiencing its greatest manifestations,
and witnessing its limitations. We will venture to discover what
constitutes oratorical genius, and under what circumstances it occurs.
Ultimately we aim to explain why it is that to speak of the American Experience
is always to speak of the rhetorical experience.
REQUIRED TEXTS.
Jones, Maldwyn A., The Limits of Liberty: American History, 1607-1992. 2nd Ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Reid, Ronald F., ed. American Rhetorical Discourse. 2nd Ed. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Press, 1995.
Reserve Readings.
REQUIREMENTS.
Students are responsible for attending each class session, being excellent readers, fully engaging in our class discussions, and nurturing a civil environment in which we all learn.
Graded coursework consists of five quizzes, two take-home questions, and a critical essay due throughout the semester. Note that six quizzes will be distributed; one quiz is optional or, if all are completed, the lowest grade can be dropped.
POLICIES.
A limit of three absences will be granted to each student. Each additional absence will result in the loss of points from the final grade. Excessive absences will result in failure of the course.
All deadlines are firm. In case of emergencies, the professor should be contacted as far in advance as possible.
We will adhere strictly to the Vanderbilt Honor Code.
GRADING. Coursework is calculated according to following point distribution.
5 quizzes 500 points Letter Grades A 93-100
C+ 77-79
Essay #1 150 points A- 90-92 C
73-76
Essay #2 150 points B+ 87-89 C-
70-72 Critical Essay 200 points B
83-86 D 60-70
B- 80-82 F 00-59
Total 1000 points
COURSE SCHEDULE
Date Discussion Topic Reading Assignment
J=Jones, R=Reid
RR=Reserve Reading
TH 8-30 Intro to the Course
TU 9-4 Basic Coordinates I Browne & Iltis (RR);
Guillory (RR)
TH 9-6 Basic Coordinates II Hochmuth (RR);
Lucas (RR)
TU 9-11 John Winthrop (J) 1-18; (R) 23-35
TH 9-13 Anne Hutchinson (RR)
Quiz #1
TU 9-18 Jonathan Edwards (J) 19-36; (R) 64-77
TH 9-20 Otis & Dickinson (J) 37-57; (R) 93-98;
(RR)
TU 9-25 Boston Massacre Orations (R) 99-108
TH 9-27 Quiz #2 & Work Session
TU 10-2 Paine & Henry (R) 113-116; 117-132
TH 10-4 Adams & Wheatley (RR)
TU 10-9 Declaration of Independence (RR)
TH 10-11 Constitutional Ratification Debates (J) 58-76;
(R) 155-81
Quiz #3
TU 10-16 Banneker and Equiano (J) 76-89; (RR)
Take-Home #1 Distributed
TH 10-18 George Washington (RR); (R) 208-223
TU 10-23 Fall Break
TH 10-25 Ames & Sampson Gannett (RR)
Take-Home #1 Due
TU 10-30 Thomas Jefferson (J) 90-112; (R) 224-228
TH 11-01 Quiz #4 & Work Session
TU 11-06 Daniel Webster (J) 113-155; (R) 235-
253, 287-310
TH 11-08 John C. Calhoun (R) 269-277; (RR)
TU 11-13 Henry Clay
Take-Home #2 Distributed (R) 257-263, 399-406
TH 11-15 Phillips & Garrison (R) 334-338, 357-62,
Quiz #5 373-79
11-20 & 22 Thanksgiving Break
TU 11-27 Grimké & Stanton (J) 156-176; (RR)
TH 11-29 Douglass & Truth (R) 387-92, (RR)
Take-Home # 2 Due
TU 12-04 Abraham Lincoln (J) 177-217; (R) 420-445
TH 12-06 Abraham Lincoln (R) 450-465, 472-79
Quiz #6
TU 12-11 William Yancey & John Brown (RR)
TH 12-13 Last Day Activities
F 12-14 Critical Analysis Essays Due
No later than 4pm, 213 Calhoun
CMST/AMST 221
RHETORIC OF THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE
CIVIL WAR to the PRESENT
SPRING 2001
COURSE DESCRIPTION. In describing the history of American oratory, Edward G. Parker observed in 1857, Great orators are not made, they are born; and, though born with the germ of genius, they need a felicity of situation, and the unfaltering application of a life to accompany their development. Their bending brows may be clothed by nature with the awful thunder; but many circumstances must conspire to create the atmosphere, on which alone it can volley forth. In this course we will encounter the oratorical genius Parker describes, and determine whether such eloquence continued to flourish beyond the Golden Age of American Oratory. We will venture to discover what constitutes oratorical genius, and under what circumstances it volleys forth. Ultimately we aim to explain why it is that to speak of the American Experience is always to speak of the rhetorical experience.
REQUIRED TEXTS.
Reid, Ronald F., ed. American Rhetorical Discourse. 2nd Ed. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Press, 1995.
Torricelli, Robert, and Andrew Carroll, eds. In Our Own Words:
Extraordinary Speeches of the American Century. New York: Washington
Square Press, 1999.
REQUIREMENTS.
Students are responsible for attending each class session, being excellent readers, and fully engaging in our class discussions.
Graded coursework consists of five quizzes, two take-home questions, and a critical essay due throughout the semester. Note that six quizzes will be distributed; one quiz is optional or, if all are completed, the lowest grade can be dropped.
POLICIES.
A limit of three excused absences will be granted to each student. Each additional absence will result in the loss of points from the final grade. Excessive absences will result in failure of the course. All deadlines are firm. In case of emergencies, the professor should be contacted as far in advance as possible.
We will adhere strictly to the Vanderbilt Honor Code.
GRADING. Coursework is calculated according to following point
distribution.
5 quizzes 500 points Letter Grades A 93-100
C+ 77-79
Essay #1 150 points A- 90-92
C 73-76
Essay #2 150 points B 83-86
D 60-70
Critical Essay 200 points B- 80-82
F 00-59
B+ 87-89
Total 1000 points
COURSE SCHEDULE
Date Discussion Topic Reading Assignment
R=Reid, T=Torricelli
TH 1-11 Intro to the Course
TU 1-16 Basic Coordinates Hochmuth; Lucas (HO)
TH 1-18 Lincoln (R) 480-82, 485-87
TU 1-23 Anthony & Stanton (R) 529-33, 539-47
TH 1-25 Quiz #1; Grady (R) 551-59
TU 1-30 Washington & DuBois (R) 563-577
TH 2-1 Bryan & Beveridge (R) 646-661
TU 2-6 Steffens (HO), Plunkitt, Roosevelt (R) 673-681, (T) 11-13
TH 2-8 QUIZ #2; Wells (T) 22-25
TU 2-13 Goldman, Wilson, Catt (R) 682-86, (T) 31-32,
Take-Home#1 Distributed (T) 39-43
TH 2-15 Woodrow Wilson (R) 689-98, (T) 43-46
TU 2-20 Debs & LaFollette (R) 699-705, (T) 47-51
TH 2-22 Quiz #3; Sanger (T) 68-70
TU 2-27 Clarence Darrow (T) 76-78, (HO)
Take-Home #1 Due
TH 3-1 Hoover, FDR, Long (T) 86-89, 107-110
(R) 719-23
3-6/3-8 SPRING BREAK
TU 3-13 FDR & Wheeler (R) 724-40
TH 3-15 Quiz #4; FDR
Take-Home #2 Distributed (R) 741-43
TU 3-20 McCarthy & Chase (T) 173-79
TH 3-22 Roosevelt & Carson (T) 200-205
TU 3-27 Kennedy & Eisenhower (R) 760-66, (T) 219-24
TH 3-29 Wallace, MLK, Malcolm X (T) 228-31, 237-41
Take-Home #2 Due (R) 777-783
TU 4-3 Quiz #5; LBJ (T) 259-265
TH 4-5 MLK (HO) & RFK (T) 72-74
TU 4-10 Steinem, Schafly, Chisholm (HO) (R) 816-829
TH 4-12 Milk (HO) & Peltier (T) 324-27
TU 4-17 Jordan (HO), Jackson (HO), Cuomo (T) 354-59
TH 4-19 Quiz #6; Reagan (R) 830-37, (T) 366-68
TU 4-24 Clinton (R) 838-41, (T) 435-38
FR 4-27 CRITICAL ANALYSIS PAPERS DUE
CMST 224
RHETORIC OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
FALL 2001
Prof. Chuck Morris
Calhoun Hall 213
343-1346; charles.e.morris@vanderbilt.edu
Office Hours: MF 11-12; T-TH 4-5
And By Appointment
COURSE DESCRIPTION. In this course we will immerse ourselves in
the rhetoric of discontent, mobilization, and transformation. Social
movements continue to be of significant scholarly interest to historians,
sociologists, literary critics, and rhetoricians alike. Our perspective
focuses on the rhetorical dimensions of social movements: the symbolic
action that seeks to give voice and texture to protest, or silence it,
as well as the contextual influences that shape such discourse. As
our readings suggest, we will be particularly interested in the intersections
of cultural context, biography, and creative rhetorical strategy.
REQUIRED TEXTS.
Jasper, James M. The Art of Moral Protest: Culture, Biography, and Creativity in Social Movements. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997.
Morris III, Charles E. and Stephen H. Browne. Readings on the Rhetoric of Social Protest. State College, PA: Strata Publishing, 2001.
Smith, Paul Chaat and Robert Allen Warrior. Like a Hurricane:
The Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee. New York: The
New Press, 1996.
REQUIREMENTS.
Students are responsible for attending each class session, being excellent readers, fully engaging in our class discussions, and nurturing a civil environment in which we all learn.
Graded coursework consists of three take-home essays (5 pages each)
due throughout the semester and a comprehensive final exam.
POLICIES.
A limit of three absences will be granted to each student. Each additional absence will result in the loss of points from the final grade. Excessive absences will result in failure of the course.
All deadlines are firm. In case of emergencies, the professor should be contacted as far in advance as possible.
We will adhere strictly to the Vanderbilt Honor Code.
GRADING. Coursework is calculated according to following point distribution.
Assignment Letter Grades
Essay #1 200 points A 93-100
C+ 77-79
Essay #2 250 points A- 90-92 C
73-76
Essay #3 250 points B+ 87-89 C-
70-72
Final Exam 300 points B 83-86
D 60-70
B- 80-82 F 00-59
Total 1000 points
COURSE SCHEDULE
Date Discussion Topic Reading Assignment
JJ=Jasper MB=Morris/Browne
SW=Smith/Warrior
TH 8-30 Intro to the Course
TU 9-4 Basic Coordinates I (JJ) Chs. 1 & 3
TH 9-6 Basic Coordinates II (MB) Griffin; Scott
&
Smith;Cathcart
TU 9-11 Motivation & Mobilization I (JJ) pp. 81-97;
(MB) Gregg
TH 9-13 Motivation & Mobilization II (JJ) Ch. 5
TU 9-18 Motivation & Mobilization III (JJ) Ch. 6; (MB) Scott
TH 9-20 Motivation & Mobilization IV (JJ) Ch. 7
TU 9-25 Movement Culture I (JJ) Ch. 8; (MB)
Lake
TH 9-27 Work Session
TU 10-2 Movement Culture II (JJ) Ch. 9; (MB)
Tonn
ESSAY #1 DUE
TH 10-4 Strategic Options I (JJ) Ch. 10;
(MB) Campbell
TU 10-9 Strategic Options II (JJ) Ch. 11
TH 10-11 Strategic Options III (MB) Browne;
Goodnight & Olson
TU 10-16 Strategic Options IV (MB) Andrews;
Haiman
TH 10-18 Strategic Options V (MB) Windt; Burgess
TU 10-23 Fall Break
TH 10-25 Strategic Change I (JJ) Ch. 13;
(MB) Murphy
TU 10-30 Strategic Change II (MB) Condit; Darsey
TH 11-01 Work Session
TU 11-06 Strategic Change III (MB) Conrad; Stewart
ESSAY #2 DUE
TH 11-08 AIM I (SW) 1-83
TU 11-13 AIM I
TH 11-15 AIM II (SW) 87-168
11-20 & 22 Thanksgiving Break
TU 11-27 AIM II
TH 11-29 AIM III (SW) 171-268
TU 12-04 AIM III
TH 12-06 AIM IV: Peltier
ESSAY #3 DUE
TU 12-11 AIM IV: Peltier Handouts
TH 12-13 Last Day Activities