Rhetorical Analysis: The Monuments Must Go

Is the removal of historical monuments that represent the United States’ gruesome histo- ry ultimately erasing important historical events that define our ideology as a nation? In recent discussions on the historical Confederate statues situated throughout the United States, a contro- versial issue that arose has been whether they should be preserved or removed. Jack Christian and Warren Christian offer their own viewpoint in their article “The Monuments Must Go,” post- ed on slate.com. In their article they argue that the statue of their great-great-grandfather, Stonewall Jackson, located in Richmond, Virginia should be removed because it has been co- opted by white supremacist groups. On the other side of the argument John Daniel Davidson, who is the editor-in-chief of the online publication The Federalist, argues that historical Confed- erate statues should stay right where they are located. In more depth Davidson ultimately be- lieves that even though: “they were wrong about slavery does not excuse us today from the bur- den of trying to understand what motivated them to fight.” Looking at this aspect, leaving Con- federate statues alone shows U.S. citizens the reason and motivation as to why Southern society seceded from …show more content…
Why shouldn’t we view them as we should, as a haunting and cautionary tale?”(Davidson Par 10). Davidson uses a rhetorical question that makes the audience automatically agree with what he is saying. To the reader, the question that is being asked is one that most people can agree on and therefore the reader will probably agree with. In turn, if the reader agrees with this question then they will most likely agree with what the author is arguing. Davidson asks a ques- tion that average U.S. Citizens would know the answer to and then connects his simple question with the main argument of whether the monuments should be removed or preserved. He effec- tively persuades the reader into seeing that the monuments should remain where they

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