American Political Rhetoric: A Reader

American Political Rhetoric is the only reader designed for introductory classes in American politics and government that is both focused on fundamental political principles and includes nothing but classic examples of our nation's political rhetoric. There are selections from The Federalist, Washington, Jefferson, Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, Abigail Adams, the Seneca Falls Declaration, Franklin Roosevelt, Bill Clinton, and many others. In addition, there are generous excerpts from leading Supreme Court opinions on race, gender, school prayer, abortion, the separation of powers, federalism, and other key political issues.

In American Political Rhetoric, Peter Lawler and Robert Schaefer contend that the study of politics is, first and foremost, for citizens, who learn best from considering the arguments put forward by our statesmen. The student enters into the controversy that animates political life, learning to form thoughtful opinions about basic political questions. Those opinions, in turn, form the foundation of the citizen's political activity in a democracy.

The fifth edition is updated throughout and includes new readings on the President and Congress, race, gender, and foreign policy.

Peter Augustine Lawler is Dana Professor and chair of the Department of Government and International Studies at Berry College in Georgia. Robert Martin Schaefer is professor of political science and chair of the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Mobile in Alabama.