Logos

Let's be honest, most Congressional documents aren't passionate speeches that try to make us tear up or shout a rallying cry. They're formal, legal documents that simply say what is going to happen or change. So logos—or appealing to logic—is most common for these types of amendments.

We can see this appeal to logic in the opening paragraph of the Platt Amendment. Congress reminds the reader that Spain lost Cuba and turned over control to America, and that before America hands Cuba its independence it needs to set some rules.

The actual rules themselves also appeal to logic. They're straightforward, if a bit brutal. Cuba can't have alliances, because the U.S. wants to keep Cuba to itself. Cuba can't go into debt, because otherwise other countries might swoop in. Cuba must keep clean, so that disease doesn't spread by ships to American cities. Cuba must let America take land on the island whenever it wants.

Yes, these rules are heavily biased toward the U.S., but again this is pure logic for America. No pity or sympathy here.