A rhetorical history of the United States : significant moments in American public discourse under the general supervisory editorship of Paul Stob and David Sarefsky founding editor: Martin J. Medhurst (1952 2021) ; volume 2: Rhetoric independence and nationhood 1760 1800 Introduction: Rhetoric independence and nationhood 1760 1800 Stephen E. Lucas The child independence is born : James Otis and writs of assistance James M. Farrell Spectacular words : the Boston Massacre orations standing armies and the transformation of civic Identity Stephen Howard Browne Religion rhetoric and revolution : the preaching of New Englands Whig clergy Christopher Grasso The commonalities of Common sense Robert A. Ferguson Justifying America : the rhetorical artistry of the Declaration of Independence Stephen E. Lucas Loyalist discourse and the moderation of the American Revolution Timothy M. Barnes and Robert M. Calhoon The confounded rhetorics of race in revolutionary America Stephen John Hartnett and Michael W. Pfau Revolutionary sensibility : the civic rhetoric of American women 1760 1800 Sandra M. Gustafson The rhetoric of The federalist : on the symbolic economy of power in the United States Jeremy Engels Alexander Hamiltons national blessing : a rhetorical study of the Report on public credit John M. Murphy Naming Americans : Benjamin Rush and the invention of citizenship in the early republic Greg Goodale. The essays illuminate key rhetors works controversies and moments that helped shape American discourse and politics during the years 1760 1800