Margaret Chase Smith's Declaration Of Conscience

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Throughout her Declaration of Conscience, Senator Margaret Chase Smith uses formal diction as well as the appeals of Pathos and Ethos to criticize the Senate for its role in the Red Scare and to encourage Americans to reunite as a country. Margaret Chase Smith achieves her purposes by eliciting Ethos, which is noticeable because of her use of allusion. “…There have been enough proved cases, such as the Amerasia case, the Hiss case, the Coplon case, the Gold case, to cause nationwide distrust...” Here Smith alludes to multiple cases of people being accused of Communist associations. She states that it is cases like these- faults of the Senate- that are influencing the American people to believe that the accusations are true. Naming the cases directly allows Smith to criticize the Senate with exact examples of when they went wrong. On multiple occasions Smith also mentions her role and status as a senator before elaborating on the details of…show more content…
Smith uses this repetition for emphasis on most every facet of her argument. In her concluding paragraph Smith says “As an American, I condemn a Republican Fascist just as much as I condemn a Democrat Communist. I condemn a Democrat Fascist just as much as I condemn a Republican Communist. They are equally dangerous to you and me and to our country. As an American, I want to see our nation recapture the strength and unity it once had…” The repetition of the phrase “I condemn…” puts emphasis on the fact that she too is against the ideas of Communism and Fascism, but reminds the audience that she sees a different approach to getting rid of them. The repetition of the phrase, “As an American…” draws attention to the fact that she too is American and needs to unite with her country against Communism. Here the appeal of Pathos by repetition aides in conveying both of Smith’s

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