SS238 Unit 8 Assignment
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT SPEECH
Give me liberty or give me death!”
–Patrick Henry
Imagine that you are in a dusty, crowded community center. Room 4A. People, more than you imagined, sit in those ubiquitous, collapsible seats. Many more stand back against the wall. Many, many individuals hold handbills you passed out regarding your public policy concern. Equally eager and nervous you stand in front of the lectern. “Now, you think…now I am ready…” You click on the microphone, examine your prepared speech about your public policy concern, and you begin to speak with eloquence and passion!
An important component of civic engagement is citizen recruitment to your public policy concern. One way to generate increased citizen recruitment is by using an effective, persuasive speech on your policy concern
A persuasive speech is a type of speech when the speaker seeks to convince an audience based on a spoken argument. Persuasive speeches are composed of three components: an appeal to logic, an appeal to emotion, and an appeal to credibility.
- An appeal to logic is when you persuade an audience with reason.
- Example: “Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
–Abraham Lincoln
- Example: “Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
- An appeal to emotion is when you elicit an emotional response from the audience.
- Example: “Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”
–Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Example: “Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”
- An appeal to credibility is when the speaker’s status or authority on the subject persuades the audience.
- Example: “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy, I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy.”
–Lloyd Bentsen
- Example: “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy, I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy.”
Source: (Learning, n.d.)
The National Constitution Center compiled the ten greatest speeches in U.S. history. From Patrick Henry’s “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech to Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream Speech”. Newsweek, an American news magazine, has the video of Dr. King’s speech, while The New York Times has an excellent analysis of it.
