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Child Labor Laws: A Response To Florence Kelley's Speech

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Child Labor Laws
Florence Kelley, who is a social reformer, read a speech that addresses “child labor laws and [improving] conditions for working women.” This was specifically made so that these problems would be solved in the near future with a grand audience, which was located in a “convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in Philadelphia on July 22, 1905”, as its’ witness.
Indubitably, she starts off with using techniques that attract people of high morality. Using age and how some states have worse laws than the latter. According to the speech, she states that there are children working under the age of 16, which is the designated (general) year of age to currently be able to work in the United States. In some states, …show more content…

Yes, she discussed the topics in which she thought needed alterations but did not necessarily specify. This does not really help the government officials or other beings in “higher places” to make much of a difference. There should have been set laws she wanted that could have made headlines or better yet, caused petitions and quick laws to emerge. Because she only generally addressed the topic, a general answer would suffice. That answer being, yes it is a problem but how do you expect us to fix this? The economy was in shambles, overproduction was apparent, and the only other people in the family not working were sadly the children. They were targeted, but not for exact reason that is depicted to emotionally amplify this speech. Children were targeted only because the parents needed a source of income other than their own to survive.
All in all, without individual women like Florence Kelley, much of the problems regarding emotional and ethical appeal would just be set aside. Men have a high set podium in family life and politics, even with laws disregarding their authority and aiding the both genders in becoming equal, patriarchy is inevitable. In the end, child labor laws were enacted along with women’s suffrage. Those individuals made their mark in society and caused a “butterfly effect” that can never be

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This collects extra support for her main cause, child labor laws. Children are meant to run, play, and be free, not work excessive hours in a heinous factory. By using logos, pathos, and a shift in topic, Florence Kelley effectively erects her argument to vote for, and create, child labor laws

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On July 22nd, 1905, Florence Kelley, a United States social worker and reformer who fought successfully for child labor laws and improved conditions for working women, delivered a speech on child labor before the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in Philadelphia. The purpose of her speech was to convince her audience that the only way to stop child labor was by allowing women the right to vote. Florence Kelley uses certain rhetorical strategies, such as pathos, diction, and an extensive use of figurative language, to appeal to her audience and accomplish her goal. Kelley’s speech is composed of a substantial amount of emotional appeals to aid her in connecting with her intended audience. In paragraph four she says, “Tonight while we sleep, several thousand little girls will be working in textile mills, all the night through, in the deafening noise of the spindles and the looms spinning and weaving cotton and wool, silks and ribbons for us to buy.”

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