The transformation of invention in nineteenth century American rhetoric

The virtual disappearance of an inventio of discovery in American rhetoric during the nineteenth century has been extensively chronicled. This discussion attempts to explain the development, starting with the truism that rhetorical systems are cultural products arising in response to the needs of an age. The shift in the nature of invention was the direct result of the supremacy of Campbell, Blair, and Whately in rhetorical discussions of the last century, the three thinkers proving compatible with the dominant American views in philosophy, science, and art—the philosophy being Scottish Common Sense Realism, the science practical rather than theoretical, and the aesthetic conservative socially and politically.