Exploring the Text: - The rhetorical situation for this speech is that Theodore Roosevelt, one of the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War of 1898 (the invitation to the banquet referred to him as “Colonel Roosevelt”) and newly elected governor of New York, was being honored at a banquet by the Hamilton Club, an exclusive members-only organization established in 1890. How does he tailor his speech to this audience (which was all male)? What ethos does he establish?