Inoculating for Small Pox Inoculation Objections in Reverend Cooper’s Letter to a Friend in the Country

The early 18th century rhetoric of Boston minister William Cooper reflects inoculation theory’s two principle components—(1) threat and (2) refutational preemption—in Cooper’s pamphlet, A Reply to the Objections Made Against Taking the Small Pox in the Way of Inoculation from Principles of Conscience, Letter to a Friend in the Country. Faced with religious opposition to medical inoculation, Cooper attempted to use attitudinal inoculation and religious arguments against such anti-medical inoculation rhetoric. We turn to a social scientific model to frame a rhetorical analysis of Cooper’s unique strategies, and the essay concludes with an exploration of contemporary health communication attempts to assuage fears of biological inoculations, with identified similarities with Cooper’s rhetoric. Additionally, we consider implications of Cooper’s arguments composed of intertwined science and scripture.