You, the people : American national identity in presidential rhetoric

Resource Information

The work You, the people : American national identity in presidential rhetoric represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in European University Institute Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

You, the people : American national identity in presidential rhetoric

Title remainder

American national identity in presidential rhetoric

Statement of responsibility

Vanessa B. Beasley

Creator

• Beasley, Vanessa B., 1966-

Subject

• Group identity -- Political aspects -- United States -- History
• Nationalism -- United States -- History
• Presidents -- United States -- Language
• Rhetoric -- Political aspects -- United States -- History
• United States -- Politics and government

Language

eng

Summary

As we ask anew in these troubled times what it means to be an American, You, the People provides perspective by casting its eye over the answers given by past U.S. presidents in their addresses to the public. Who is an American, and who is not? And yet, as Vanessa Beasley demonstrates in this eloquent exploration of a century of presidential speeches, the questions are not new. Since the Founders first identified the nation as "we, the people, " the faces and accents of U.S. citizens have changed dramatically due to immigration and other constitutive changes. U.S. presidents have often spoken as if there were one monolithic American people. Here Beasley traces rhetorical constructions of American national identity in presidents' inaugural addresses and state of the union messages from 1885 through 2000. She argues convincingly that while the demographics of the voting citizenry changed rapidly during this period, presidential definitions of American national identity did not. Chief executives have consistently employed a rhetoric of American nationalism that is simultaneously inclusive and exclusive; Beasley examines both the genius and the limitations of this language.--

Assigning source

Provided by Publisher

Cataloging source

DLC

Government publication

government publication of a state province territory dependency etc

Index

index present

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography

Series statement

Presidential rhetoric series

Series volume

no. 10.