Participation Type
Paper
Presentation #1 Title
Cosmopolitanism in Appalachia: The Rhetoric of the Wheeling Intelligencer During the 1860 Election.
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
This paper examines the Wheeling Intelligencer’s (Wheeling, VA, now Wheeling, WV) editorial endorsement of Abraham Lincoln’s campaign for presidency in 1860. Because this was the only newspaper that supported the Lincoln presidency in the state of Virginia, the editorials employed cosmopolitanism as a rhetorical invention to justify their support of a Republican candidate in the American South. Cosmopolitanism, emphasizing similarity, imbued the editorial page of the Intelligencer preceding the 1860 presidential election. However, this form of cosmopolitanism did not emphasize the sameness of individuals, but of geographies and regions. The editorial pages were filled with letters of support from outside the American South, specifically the American Midwest and Northeast. By doing so, the Intelligencer encouraged the reader to view the Republican cause and a Lincoln candidacy as aligned with the views of the country as a whole, rather than the provinciality of the American South. A move such as this represents a unique rhetorical strategy in the American South, and in this way, represents the uniqueness of Appalachian rhetoric. Although some might think of Appalachia, especially pre-American Civil War Appalachia, as synonymous with the American South or as a homogenous unit, the Intelligencer’s editorial page disrupts these notions and, in fitting with this year’s conference theme, highlights the diversity of voices in the region. To develop these arguments, I will discuss notions of cosmopolitanism and provincialism, analyze the rhetoric of editorial pages of the Wheeling Intelligencer from July of 1860 to November 1860 from this perspective, and then draw implications.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Ryan P. McCullough is an Assistant Professor of Communication at West Liberty University in West Liberty, WV.
Cosmopolitanism in Appalachia: The Rhetoric of the Wheeling Intelligencer During the 1860 Election.
This paper examines the Wheeling Intelligencer’s (Wheeling, VA, now Wheeling, WV) editorial endorsement of Abraham Lincoln’s campaign for presidency in 1860. Because this was the only newspaper that supported the Lincoln presidency in the state of Virginia, the editorials employed cosmopolitanism as a rhetorical invention to justify their support of a Republican candidate in the American South. Cosmopolitanism, emphasizing similarity, imbued the editorial page of the Intelligencer preceding the 1860 presidential election. However, this form of cosmopolitanism did not emphasize the sameness of individuals, but of geographies and regions. The editorial pages were filled with letters of support from outside the American South, specifically the American Midwest and Northeast. By doing so, the Intelligencer encouraged the reader to view the Republican cause and a Lincoln candidacy as aligned with the views of the country as a whole, rather than the provinciality of the American South. A move such as this represents a unique rhetorical strategy in the American South, and in this way, represents the uniqueness of Appalachian rhetoric. Although some might think of Appalachia, especially pre-American Civil War Appalachia, as synonymous with the American South or as a homogenous unit, the Intelligencer’s editorial page disrupts these notions and, in fitting with this year’s conference theme, highlights the diversity of voices in the region. To develop these arguments, I will discuss notions of cosmopolitanism and provincialism, analyze the rhetoric of editorial pages of the Wheeling Intelligencer from July of 1860 to November 1860 from this perspective, and then draw implications.
