18th and 21st Amendments: Rhetoric

    18th and 21st Amendments: Rhetoric

      The 18th and 21st Amendments aren't an argument—they're the end of one. The argument was made, and the result was the law. As such, the Temperance Movement employed all three forms of persuasion at one time or another. The predominant kinds, however, were pathos and logos.

      Because many leaders of the Temperance Movement were women, who had limited rights at the time, they couldn't use ethos (appeals to credibility), as the male-dominated culture made sure they wouldn't be seen as credible authorities. So they had to use the tools of persuasion left to them. Often, these were emotional appeals to the damage alcohol could wreak, though in Carry Nation's case, it was a violent explosion of righteous anger.

      Plenty of people, especially women, resonated with those appeals. Domestic violence, child abuse, and poverty were well-known byproducts of alcohol abuse.

      Logos—persuasion via logic and reason—was also used to convince people of the economic and social costs of drunkenness, but pathos really won the arguments.