Birthing Columbia’s Daughter: A Rhetorical Analysis

Birthing Columbia’s Daughter

In The Female Review: Life of Deborah Sampson, the text’s intentions, to inform the audience about Sampson, persuade them she embodies an honorable lady and war hero, and convince them to judge her impartially, remain consistent throughout the front materials and the text.

The first impression a reader garners about the text is from the frontispiece, a portrait printed from an engraving of Sampson, which establishes her existence through a logical appeal. The image features Sampson with accoutrements connotative of an eighteenth-century lady: a fine dress, long curly hair, a pearl necklace. However, outside the frame of the portrait, images that conjure patriotic sentiments encircle her, such as a rifle, a drum, a sword, and an eagle with a shield of stars and stripes. With the ladylike Sampson centered amongst the trappings of battle, it seems the intention of this image is to make an emotional appeal and relate to the audience the message that Sampson is, at her core, a true lady despite serving as a man in the American Revolution. This image—taken into consideration with the leather cover—could also reflect the text’s intended audience, wealthy subscribers. Portraying Sampson in this manner, instead of in drag, might also serve the purpose of convincing the audience to judge her fairly, because they would be less likely to judge someone harshly whom they related to and felt dressed like them.

Next, the title page seems to call upon an audience who would enjoy reading the memoirs of a real, “AMERICAN YOUNG LADY,” as these bold, large words in the beginning of the scrolling title suggest. The first information presented about Sampson, in the title, says her “LIFE AND CHARACTER ARE PECULIARLY DISTINGUSHED.” After a dash, the title mentions she served as a continental soldier for three years. By placing this information second and after a dash, the title gives the impression that it is more important for the audience to know Sampson to possess distinguished character, than that she served in the Army. Basically, the title establishes her creditability as a “distinguished,” “American Young Lady” before mentioning her time in the Army. This signals that the intended audience might consider a woman in war less than credible and wants to solidify her as reputable, despite commonly held perceptions. The title does not include Sampson’s name; it only promotes her as an anonymous war hero. The text could be appealing emotionally to nostalgic fans of Revolutionary War Memoirs. The second sentence on the title page describes how Sampson “PERFORMED THE DUTIES OF EVERY DEPARTMENT, INTO WHICH SHE WAS CALLED” and even “PRESERVED HER CHASTITY IN-VIOLATE,” by dressing as a man. The intention of this passage seems to lean toward logically proving her good character and convincing the audience to judge her in a positive light, by saying she performed all of the duties of a soldier honorably and implying that preserving her “CHASITY” stands as the only reason for her cross-dressing. The title page advertises an appendix, detailing Sampson’s “CHARACTERISTIC TRAITS, BY DIFFERENT HANDS,” making a logical appeal to the audience, establishing creditability and reaffirming that other people know Sampson possesses the ladylike qualities of “PRINCIPLES OF DOMESTIC EDUCATION.”

The subsequent piece of front matter is a dedication, “TO THE PATRONS AND FRIENDS OF COLUMBIA’S CAUSE.” The dedication confirms, “such a thing [ . . . ] has occurred,” a woman has served in the Revolution. Mentioning the female personification of the early American spirit, Lady Columbia, at the beginning of a novel about a woman soldier could serve the purpose of equating Sampson with Columbia in the minds of readers. Readers threatened by the character of a woman soldier would not judge her fairly; this, therefore, explains why the dedication assures possible readers the text does not have “intentions to encourage the like paradigm” or to motivate other women to become soldiers.

The preface, explicitly states the textual intention is to inform the public that Sampson exists and relate her story as “entertaining and useful” with “preference to the Bright Side” (A2-VI, XIII, XII). The words “FEMALE” and “HEROINE” in all capital letters, often substitute Sampson’s name in the text. Presenting these words in bold type, signals their importance and calls attention to their proximity to italicized words such as “Virtue,” “Liberty,” “Source” and “beginning in infancy” (XIV). The juxtaposition of these words makes an emotional appeal to the audience, asking them to view Sampson as a patriotic and virtuous woman. Again, the image of Lady Columbia conjures an emotional appeal, saying Sampson is her “offspring” (VI). This preface asks directly for “a candid and impartial public” to evaluate her, showing the expectation that the audience might possess preconceived notions. At the same time, it remains hopeful readers will instead judge her positively.

With the front matter and the first chapters of the novel, the text reveals its aims; to logically prove Sampson actually lived and fought in the Revolution, establish her as a lady of good character, through use of emotional appeals, and create a trustful ethos, which recounts her adventures, in order to convince readers to remember her as an American war hero.

Work Cited

Mann, Herman. The Female Review: or Memoirs of an American Young Lady. Dedham,\

1797. Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans, 1639-1800. Web. 1 Sept. 2010.