142 Chapter 5 | a republiC enviSioned and reviSed | period three 175 4 –18 0 0Putting it All togEthER
Revisiting the Main Point
•
In what ways did the new language of human rights shape economic policies
during the eighteenth century?•
As seen in the prereading theme questions, the rhetoric of an individual or
a group refers to the language used in public or private discourse. How was
the rhetoric of marginalized groups like women and African Americans
similar in the eighteenth century?•
How did European ideas fuel the rhetoric, or public discourse, of the
American Revolution? How did the rhetoric of the American Revolution
influence revolutionary idealism in other parts of the world?•
Characterize the Federalist and Antifederalist positions in the debates
over the Constitution during the 1780s. Characterize the Federalist and
Jeffersonian Republican positions in the debates over government power
during the 1790s. What is one similarity and one difference between the
debates of the 1780s and the 1790s?avoiding the either/or fallacy
in historical argumentAny argument that is worth making has at least two credible sides. Although you
may firmly believe one side, fully addressing both sides makes a more complete
argument.
Acknowledging the other side’s validity is called a concession. An appropriate
use of historical evidence will acknowledge the opposing views of any argument.
Even after acknowledging a second side, however, you must be careful to avoid
the either/or fallacy, which artificially reduces an argument to only two choices.
For example, consider the following prompt:Review two of the major sides in the political debates of the 1780s and
1790s—the Antifederalists/Jeffersonian Republicans on one side and the
Federalists on the other. Determine the extent to which one had a greater
claim to fulfilling the ideals of the Declaration of Independence.buIlDIng AP®
wRITIng sKIlls06_STA_2012_ch5_115-144.indd 142 11/03/15 3:19 PM