This dissertation has been microfilmed exactly as received 66-14,193
BECK, Don Edward, 1937- THE RHETORIC OF CONFLICT AND COMPROMISE: A STUDY IN CIVIL WAR CAUSATION.
The University of Oklahoma, Ph.D., 1966 Speech-Theater
University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan THE ÜNIVERSITT OF OKLAHOMA
GRADUATE COLLEGE
TÜK IttUSi’ORlC Qÿ- COWLIGT AWD CWKOHlSEj A STUDY IN
C i m WAR CAUSATION
A DISSERTATION
SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY
iTi partial fulfilliwnt of the requirements for the
degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
by
DON SEWARD BECK
Norman* Oklahoma
1966 IHË RHETORIC OF CONFLICT AND COMPROMISE: A STUDY IN
CIVIL WAR CAUSATION
APPROVm BY
1 s / .
1 dissertation COMMITTEE PLEASE NOTE: Mot original copy. Several pages throughout have some blurred and indistinct print. Filmed as re ceived. University Microfilms, Inc. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The following individùals made substantial contributions to the
conçletion oÊ this dissertation and should be recognized.
Dr. Roger E. Nebergall and Dr. David M. Berg, co-chairmen of the Advisory Committee, worked closely with the writer in the organi
zation and composition of this study. Dr. Jack E. Douglas, Dr. John S.
Ezell, and Dr. William R. Brown, also members of the committee, were helpful in suggesting textual and stylistic changes.
Dr. Wayne E. Brockriede, now of the University of Colorado, contributed significantly to the original conception of this study and instilled in the writer an appreciation for scholarship.
Finally, Patricia Jane Beck, the writer’s wife, provided the kind of understanding and atmosphere necessary to make this dissertation a reality. To her this study is dedicated.
ill TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS «««,««»«««,
LIST OF TABLES ......
Chapter
I. INTRODUCTION......
Purposes of the Study Approaches to the Study Sources of Material Plan of the Study
n. THE SOCIAL JDDGMENT-INVOLVEMENT APPROACH...... 30
The Cognitive Process of Perception-Judgraent Impact of Ego-Involveaent Impact of Social Judgment on Group Theory Inpaot of Social Judgment on Rhetorical Theory
m. RHETORIC AND COMPRCRESE: A THEORETICAL APPROACH , 6?
Relationship between Conflict and Compromise Relationship between Rhetoric and Compromise Effect of Efeo-Involvement
IV. BACKGROUND TO THE i860 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION . . . 97
Historical Influences Political Background Social and Cultural Background Rhetorical Background
V. ATTITUDES TOWARD SLAVERY IN I860 ...... 151
Positions on Slavery Assimilation and Contrast Effects
VI. BIPQLARIZATION IN i860 ...... 193
The Nature of Bipolarization The Causes of Bipolarization The Effects of Bipolarization
V U . CONCLUSION ...... 225
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 231
iv LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1. Mean Sizes of latitudes of Acceptance, Rejection, and Noncoimitment: Oklahoma, I 9 6 0 ...... hi THE RHETORIC OF CONFLICT AND COMPROMISE: A STUDY IN
C i m WAR CAUSATION
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Philosophers and statesmen across the Atlantic in i860 and l86l
asked one another why twenty-five million intelligent Americans oonld not
settle the condition of four million uneducated Africans without tearing
one another's throats. Over one hundred years later Professor J, Jeffrey
Auer, in his Preface to Anti-slaverv and Disunion. 1858-1861. asked: "Why did the Americans, trained in the democratic tradition of free speech and
compromise, ultimately fail to talk out their differences?”^
The rejection of compromise in the ante helium struggle was reflected in the failure of the rhetoric of conciliation as a rational 12 instrument in the "energizing of knowledge and the humanizing of truth.”
The alternative was a bloody war resulting in over one million casualties and a total monetary cost well in excess of eight billion dollars.^
^John Jeffrey Auer (ed.), Anti-slaverv and Disunion. 1858-1861 (New York: Harper and Row, 1963), p. x. ^This definition of rhetoric by Charles S. Baldwin is cited in Marie Hochmuth Nichols, Rhetoric and Criticism (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 19^3), P. 70. ^David M. Pottor, "Why the Republicans Rejected both Compromise and Secession,” in The ^^ieis ^f th^ ioojj—xooji, eo. vjeorge narmon Knoles (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1965), p. 105, points out that the war cost the life of one soldier, either Rebel or 2
This dissertation will focus on the development of a theoretical
approach to conflict and conflict resolution. An analytical model, re
flecting current thought from several disciplines, will be applied in an
historical analysis of the factors which brought on the American Civil
War. This interaction of the theoretical with the historical is both
deductive and inductive. This study performs a deductive function in
that the basic principles of the eclectically-derived construct will
be superimposed on the historical context. This dissertation follows
an inductive pattern in that some of the insights gained from the his
torical data modify or replace the theoretical concepts.
The deductive and inductive views of conflict, rhetoric, and
compromise result in a more sophisticated theoretical approach on one
hand and more accurate historical judgment and interpretation on the
other. An approach to conflict and conflict resolution which has been
developed theoretically and tested historically should prove to be a
useful paradigm in the examination of other controversies.
Purposes of the Study
The intent of this dissertation, therefore, is two-fold. First,
this study develops a theoretical construct dealing with the interaction
of rhetoric and compromise within a conflict. The main objective is to
determine at what point a controveri^ becomes so rigid that it is no
longer amenable to some form of peaceful settlement. This approach, which views conpromise as a rhetorical activity, focuses on those factors
lank, for every six slaves who ware freed and for every ten white Scuthsrners who were held in the Union. This is not to say, however,
AC 4 4-l^a AAwfl 4 «%4» 4 > V a w w wi» w-bwi* wMw WAAA. ■*!ifcw w nwA w c&MOk* w ÿ caw wxxv vxio implications of their decision to resort to arms. 3
within the anatomy of a controversy which either make possible a settlement
or deepen the confrontation into an "irrepressible conflict.” The analytical
model will be described in Chapters II and H I.
Second, the theoretical construct will be applied, in the form of
a case=study, to the pre-Civil War controversy in general and to the presi
dential campaign and election of i860 in particular.
The ante bellum controversy, which has been described by Devote as
"the crux of our history,"^ has been selected as a testing-ground for the
theoretical approach. Three factors motivated this choice. First, maqy of
the issues which caused the disruption of the Union are just an meaningful
and important now as they were then. Although the contemporary attitudes
do not activate the same degree of intensity as they did in I860, they
are still vital to many Americans of this century. The importance of the
issues discussed in the sectional conflict has been underlined by EllHns
in his study of the problem of slavery.
It can hardly be doubted that the estrangement of North and South over slavery, and the consequences of it, offer us what is potent ially the most distinguished subject in our history. That it might have ended otherwise is a shadowy possibility that will trouble our minds forever. That there may have been alternatives— that choices were at least conceiva]?le