Advances in the History of Rhetoric Jan 2013

Rhetoric of Doom and Redemption: Reverend Jermain Loguen's Jeremiadic Speech Against the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850

Paul Minifee

Abstract

ABSTRACT In his monumental speech protesting the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, Rev. Jermain W. Loguen urges his fellow townsmen of Syracuse, NY, an “open city” to fugitives, to defy the new federal legislation by protecting the city's fugitives from federal marshals en route to apprehend them. My analysis of Loguen's speech examines his use of American and African American jeremiadic strategies to convince his audience of primarily white Christian abolitionists that their unified resistance against the new law was part of God's providential plan to redeem the nation of the sin of slavery. My study also reveals how Loguen's appeals to manhood, through associating divine punishment with the emasculation of American men, as well as his establishment of “identification” around shared religious and political values, proved effective in rallying Syracuse's citizens to defend their God-given freedom.

Journal
Advances in the History of Rhetoric
Published
2013-01-01
DOI
10.1080/15362426.2012.746752
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism race and writing
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

  1. McClish (2013)
    Transforming the African Missionary Narrative: Rhetorical Innovation in Martin …
    Advances in the History of Rhetoric

References (45)

  1. Aptheker (1965)
    A Documentary History of the Negro People in the United States
  2. Augustine (2009)
    On Christian Doctrine
  3. Bacon (2002)
    The Humblest May Stand Forth: Rhetoric, Empowerment, and Abolition
  4. Bauckham (1977)
    The Eschatological Earthquake in the Apocalypse of John
    Novum Testamentum  ↗
  5. Bercovitch (1978)
    The American Jeremiad
Show all 45 →
  1. Bordewich (2005)
    Bound for Canaan: The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America
  2. Burke (1950)
    A Grammar of Motives
  3. (1841)
    Colored American
  4. DeBoer (1994)
    Be Jubilant My Feet: African American Abolitionists in the American Missionary Association
  5. Douglass (1852)
    Letter from the Editor
  6. Douglass (1962)
    Life and Times of Frederick Douglass: His Early Life as a Slave, His Escape from Bondage,…
  7. Douglass (1999)
    Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself
  8. Douglass (2003)
    My Bondage and My Freedom
  9. Danielle (2011)
    Location Matters: The Rhetoric of Place in Protest
    Quarterly Journal of Speech  ↗
  10. Foner (1998)
    Lift Every Voice: African American Oratory
  11. Friend (2004)
    Southern Manhood: Perspectives on Masculinity in the Old South
  12. Griffler (2004)
    Front Line of Freedom: African Americans and the Forging of the Underground Railroad in t…
  13. Harrell (2010)
    ‘The Reality of America Has Strayed from Its Myths’: Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope …
    Journal of Black Studies  ↗
  14. Hines (1999)
    A Question of Manhood
  15. James (1997)
    Hope of Liberty: Culture, Community, and Protest Among Northern Free Blacks
  16. James (1999)
    Violence, Protest, and Identity: Black Manhood in Antebellum America
  17. Howard-Pitney (2005)
    The African American Jeremiad: Appeals for Justice in America
  18. Hunter (1993)
    To Set the Captives Free: Reverend Jermain Wesley Loguen and the Struggle for Freedom in …
  19. Johnson (1921)
    The Constitutionality of the Fugitive Slave Acts
    Yale Law Journal  ↗
  20. King (1977)
    Strength to Love
  21. Loader (1990)
    A Tale of Two Cities: Sodom and Gomorrah in the Old Testament
  22. Loguen (1851)
    Letter to the Editor
  23. Loguen (1853)
    Letter to the Editor
  24. Loguen, Jermain W. 1859. The Rev. J. W. Loguen, as a Slave and as a Freeman: A Narrative of a Real Life. Syra…
  25. Loguen (1860)
    Syracuse Daily Standard
  26. Mattis (2001)
    Religion and African American Political Life
    Political Psychology  ↗
  27. Samuel (1869)
    Some Recollections of Our Antislavery Conflict
  28. Moses (1982)
    Black Messiahs and Uncle Toms: Social and Literary Manipulations of a Religious Myth
  29. Murphy (2009)
    Prodigal Nation: Moral Decline and Divine Punishment from New England to 9/11
  30. Murphy (2011)
    Barack Obama, the Exodus Tradition, and the Joshua Generation
    Quarterly Journal of Speech  ↗
  31. Nolland (2005)
    The Gospel of Matthew: A Commentary on the Greek Text
  32. Rosenberg (1973)
    Sexuality, Class, and Role in 19th-Century America
    American Quarterly  ↗
  33. Milton Charles (1987)
    ‘A Citizen of No Mean City’
    Jermain W. Loguen and the Antislavery Reputation of Syracuse.” Courier
  34. Sokolow (1982)
    The Jerry McHenry Rescue and the Growth of Northern Antislavery Sentiment during the 1850s
    Journal of American Studies  ↗
  35. Strong (1999)
    Perfectionist Politics: Abolitionism and the Religious Tensions of American Democracy
  36. (1850)
    Syracuse Standard
  37. Walker (2009)
    The Preacher and the Politician: Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama, and Race in America
  38. Walker, David. 1829. “Walker's Appeal, in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured Citizens o…
  39. Walls (1974)
    The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church: Reality of the Black Church
  40. Wells (2000)
    God's Holy People: A Theme in Biblical Theology
CrossRef global citation count: 2 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related Articles

  1. Res Rhetorica Jan 2026
    Review/Recenzja: Nancy Organ. 2024. Data Visualization for People of All Ages. Oxon: CRC Press; and Jen Christiansen. 2023. Building Science Graphics: An Illustrated Guide to Communicating Science Through Diagrams and Visualizations. Oxon: CRC Press ↗
    Ewa Modrzejewska
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism discourse analysis digital rhetoric multimodality grammar and mechanics race and writing book reviews
  2. Pedagogy Oct 2025
    Contributors ↗
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism genre theory cultural rhetorics first-year composition writing pedagogy advanced composition creative writing writing across the curriculum graduate education two-year college service learning teacher development technical communication professional writing labor and working conditions archival research multimodality artificial intelligence literacy studies race and writing gender and writing disability studies literary studies editorial matter
  3. Philosophy & Rhetoric Apr 2025
    Introduction: On the Desirability of Speaking to Others ↗
    Nirvana Tanoukhi; Nicholas Dunn
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism discourse analysis argument social media race and writing gender and writing disability studies public rhetoric literary studies editorial matter
  4. Pedagogy Apr 2025
    Contributors ↗
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism african american rhetorics cultural rhetorics first-year composition writing pedagogy basic writing graduate education two-year college teacher development writing centers technical communication professional writing labor and working conditions digital rhetoric multimodality social media literacy studies race and writing gender and writing community literacy literary studies editorial matter
  5. Rhetoric of Health and Medicine Mar 2025
    ADHD and Rhetorics of Delinquency ↗
    Sara Biggs Chaney
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism race and writing disability studies