6. Love of right and justice.
The arguer should never fail to leave his hearers with the conviction that he champions a just cause. This appeal can always be made, because under no circumstances should anyone champion a cause which is unjust. In this age people as a whole are willing to do the right thing, despite the actions of particular individuals or groups of individuals to the contrary. Abstract justice in its application to the particular proposition should form the basis of the final plea.
7. Love of country, home, and kindred.
The hearts of men have always been stirred by the appeal to patriotism. Action in its most intense form will follow the right appeal to love of country. The protection of home and kindred has from the dawn of history been the prime motive in all great world movements. Other causes may appear on the surface, but underlying these, in one form or another is this primal cause. Wars are waged and nations built up or overthrown because of the use or abuse of this power. Therefore the speaker must make a broad application of his particular argument in the closing paragraph.
With these fundamental suggestions in mind regarding the attitude which the conclusion should take, we will now turn to the form in which it is to be presented.
The conclusion must conform to the brief by summing up the main arguments and putting them clearly before the audience. This summary is necessary in order to make the proof clear and forcible. It should contain the main issues, and, whenever practicable, the subordinate reasons supporting them, in order that the chief points in the proof of the proposition may be recalled by the audience.
An example of the simple summary which is often quoted as a model, is the conclusion of the argument made by Daniel Webster in the case of Ogden v. Saunders:—
“To recapitulate what has been said, we maintain, first, that the Constitution, by its grants to Congress and its prohibitions to the states, has sought to establish one uniform standard of value, or medium of payment. Second, that, by like means, it has endeavored to provide for one uniform mode of discharging debts, when they are to be discharged without payment. Third, that these objects are connected, and that the first loses much of its importance, if the last, also, be not accomplished. Fourth, that, reading the grant to Congress and the prohibition on the states together, the inference is strong that the Constitution intended to confer an exclusive power to pass bankrupt laws on Congress. Fifth, that the prohibition in the tenth section reaches to all contracts, existing or in the future, in the same way that the other prohibition, in the same section, extends to all debts, existing or in the future. Sixthly, that, upon any other construction, one great political object of the Constitution will fail of its accomplishment.”
Again in the argument on the Presidential Protest he summarizes with effect and concludes:—
“—We have not sought this controversy; it has met us and been forced upon us. In my judgment, the law has been disregarded, and the Constitution transgressed; the fortress of liberty has been assaulted, and circumstances have placed the Senate in the breach; and, although we may perish in it, I know we shall not fly from it. But I am fearless of consequences. We shall hold on, Sir, and hold out, till the people themselves come to its defense. We shall raise the alarm, and maintain the post, till they whose right it is shall decide whether the Senate be a faction, wantonly resisting lawful power, or whether it be opposing, with firmness and patriotism, violations of liberty, and inroads upon the Constitution.”