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Balancing the Scale of Rationality: The Public Memory of the Boston Tea Party and the Transformation of Dissent
Neville-Shepard, Meredith Diane
Neville-Shepard, Meredith Diane
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Abstract
This study examines the public memory of the Boston Tea Party as it has been appropriated for political purposes throughout history. First, I examine the Boston Tea Party to show that the rhetoric surrounding this protest created a tradition of American dissent in which dissenters created a balance between the rational and the irrational. Next, I analyze how woman suffragists participated in the centennial celebration of the Boston Tea Party in 1873 by planning protests that evoked the message of the Boston Tea Party. I illustrate that the rhetoric relevant to these events carried on the tradition of dissent established one hundred years earlier as these women balanced assertions of irrationality with rational argument. Finally, I analyze the Modern Tea Party Movement and conclude that their movement has been overwhelmed by irrationality. Thus, they have transfigured the tradition of Tea Party dissent in America.
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Date
2010-06-10
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University of Kansas
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Keywords
Communication, Boston tea party, Dissent, Protest, Public memory, Rhetoric, Woman's suffrage