John Smith was a master at utilizing logical, emotional, and ethical appeals to convince his audience to come to America. He was able to do this by asking rhetorical questions that emphasized what his audience wanted. Smith's audience was mainly the poor people of England but also included craftsmen like "Carpenters, Masons, and Fishers" and their apprentices. His logical appeals all lead the audience step by step to the conclusion that only hard work is needed to secure land and food in America. His emotional appeals focus on the tantalizing status of being as prosperous as the rich in England that the people who come to America will feel. His ethical appeals were targeted at those who wanted to show their patriotism towards their country, in this case, that country is England.
Smith first dangles the prospect of owning land that only costs hard work and the only drawback is the risking of the person's life.
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Captain John Smith, from his 1614 map of New Engla...
John Smith 1616 New England mapThis was not a very bad tradeoff because the poor in England did not really have anything to lose by losing their life. They had very little or no money, no land, and no way to acquire land. Land was a very big motivator back in Smith's time because the amount of land possessed corresponded to the owner's wealth. By comparison, risking their almost worthless lives in a gamble that would reward them with free land if they survived made the decision to go easy indeed. Next, Smith dangles the solution to the next most important problem of the poor in England. He tells his audience that one only has to "fish but an hour in a day, to take in more than they can eat in a week."
Smith also played on the emotions evoked whenever the poor think of the...