"What Is an American" Speech Analysis

Michael Walzer’s essay on “What Does It Mean to Be an American?” raises many points about the American citizen. Specifically, he discusses “American” as an adjective (Walzer). “American” is often associated with American citizens; while this is true, the term can also be applied to Canadians and Mexicans (Walzer). American is such an ambiguous adjective that it is applicable to all countries and individuals that are part of the North American continent. Like Mr. Walzer states, American is not a truly defined term and America is not a country (Walzer). Walzer goes on to introduce a Horace Kallen’s opinion on American’s as anonymous and their “unique” pluralism (Walzer). There are exceptions to all things; the positive to being an American is the fact that Americans can be whatever they choose to be. I feel to be an American one must believe in the American ideals, they must believe in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. American 's in general may be anonymous, however, upon further reflection they have left the definition of “American” open for each American to define the adjective for themselves.

America — a land known for its ideals of freedom and new opportunities, a nation built under the idea that every man and women is created equal. However, the definition of what makes a person an American is entirely different from what it is that makes up America, itself. J.Hector St. John Crevecoeur, author of Letters from an American Farmer (1782), exposes what he believes makes an American. However, when compared to the standards of what makes an American in today’s world, it seems that becoming an American then was much simpler then, than it is today. The definition of an American is always evolving due to the influences of our changing nation. During a simpler time, Crevecoeur defined an American as someone of European

The resilience of the American people has been seen for decades, even before gaining our independence from the British. Our nation as a whole is not easily deterred; there is no challenge or obstacle too big for Americans to overcome. Over our whole existence as a country, that statement has held true, no tragedy or rivalry has been able to damage that. “Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People” by President Bush and “The Declaration of Independence” by Thomas Jefferson are examples of Americans overcoming trials and tribulations to come together as a whole. In “Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People” President Bush as our leader at the time was ready to defend our values established in the “Declaration of Independence”. President Bush conveyed the values present in the declaration by using his authority to levy war, restore tranquility, and bring justice to the American people, he newly establishes the tolerance of our nation towards other religions and other views, however not toward the destruction of our country, and the declaration is initially created for the freedom of solely our country, in this speech he builds upon the declaration and appeals to the freedom of the world.

The President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes, presented his speech “What Is An American” while attending an I Am an American Day gathering in Central Park, New York City. At that time Germany completed multiple invasions throughout the European countries and was furiously attacking Britain. The American people were overall branched with the involvement of the U.S. in the war. One side believed in passivity, though others presumed even if Great Britain was conquered by Germany, the United States would remain in desolation. Harold’s Speech was directed to the Americans doubting involving the U.S. with the war against the Germans. His goal was to show that Americans are fighters and have always helped their

He also uses the literary device of parallelism, which means that he uses similar wording in his syntax to make a point, “I have used the words "they" and "their" in speaking of these heroes. I could say "you" and "your" because I am addressing the heroes of whom I speak.” In addition, he asks a rhetorical question, a question not meant to be answered aloud but to be pondered silently, “You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. Why, then, should we think that collectively, as a nation, we are not bound by that same limitation?” Asking this rhetorical question gets the audience involved in his speech. These are both useful techniques because they both relate him to the audience and keep the audience’s attention by inquiry. These are all strategies that lead to the same outcome, to persuade the audience that he is best fit to be the leader of this nation.

There are several reasons that Thomas Jefferson’s Second Inaugural Address is remarkable, how his rhetoric evoked a response from his audience, and why his words are still venerated today. Thomas Jefferson has not changed in some of his views since Writing the Declaration of Independence. He doesn’t like unnecessary taxes in his second inaugural address he says that “The suppression of unnecessary offices, of useless establishments and expenses, enabled us to discontinue our internal taxes. ”(Jefferson, pg 1) In the declaration of Independence he was against England’s taxes, “For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent.

These words notified Americans that the right idea of freedom is only reachable if we stand together. His speech was a critical moment that

Throughout American history, there have been several famous speeches to inform and persuade Americans. Two examples are the “Speech to the Virginia Convention” by Patrick Henry and “President Bush Outlines Iraqi Threat” by President Bush. Patrick Henry’s speech was made to persuade Virginia delegates to go to war against Great Britain. President Bush’s speech was made to persuade Congress to vote yes for military force in Iraq. The two speeches are rhetorically similar because they both have an alike tone, use pathos, and provide many examples of loaded language.

The speech was to inform and the speaker did exactly that. Emotions and personal opinions were kept out of his speech, not many rhetorical devices were used if any.

Twain wrote the phrase "I AM NOT AN AMERICAN; I AM THE AMERICAN" in a

Obama open his speech talking about how hard has been for many Americans in the first 15 years of this century. He caught my attention, when he started mentioning all the improvement in our nation economic, how the unemployment rate is lower, more kids are graduating then years before. I think this was impactful because it give a message to all the American who worked

In his speech, Obama used reassuring repetition and a confident anaphora to unite the country. He also used charming smiles and slight hand movements to seem non-aggressive and approachable. All of Obama’s rhetorical devices helped deliverer his idea of future prosperity and unification of the United States. Obama used repetition when he stated the phrase “yes we can” (Obama) throughout his speech. Obama used the form of repetition to guide the listener through important United States events such as women gaining the right to vote, the dust bowl, and the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

The Flying Squadron of Speakers (FSS) was an organization of citizens formed after the First World War to promote “The American way” through oratory propaganda. In this paper a pamphlet produced by the FSS to attract new members will be analyzed. The most titillating aspect of this pamphlet is that it is essentially a propaganda piece promoting the need for more propaganda. Its xenophobic pages concentrate on reminding its readers that the immigrant must learn how to be an American, and that propaganda is the best way to do so.

This means that any attacks such as legalizing abortion or allowing homosexual marriages will risk our freedom and democracy.

freedom. He used rhetorical strategies throughout his speech in phrases that would definitely get across to his