Prayers at the Congress

The title of this letter tells everything what the letter talks about. First of all John tells Abigail that in the Congress, Mr. Cushing told the Congress and made a motion, that in every assembly they would start with a prayer. He tells her that they voted for Mr. Duche to tell the prayer. He tells her that Mr. Duche tells very good prayers, that he talks with emotion, good pronunciation, and that he orated the Psalms and that Abigail should read it.

Rhetorical Devices:

Appeal to Reason: “It was opposed by Mr. Jay of N. York and Mr. Ruthledge of South Carolina, because we were so divided in religious Sentiments, some Episcopalians, some Quakers, some Anabaptists, some Presbyterians, and some Congregationalists,” (John Adams 677). This rhetorical device is really important to the letter because without this quote, John Adams could not tell Abigail what is happening and what the problem in the assembly is.  

Appeal to Emotion: “I must confess I never heard a better Prayer or one, so well pronounced. Episcopalian as he is, Dr. Cooper himself never prayed with such fervor, such ardor, such Earnestness and Pathos, and in language so elegant” (John Adams 678). This is a very important quote in the letter because this quote tells what John thought about the idea of the prayer, it tells Abigail what were the results of starting the assembly with a prayer, without this quote, Abigail would have never known how John felt about the prayer.

-Rodrigo Estevez