Rhetorical Analysis Of Susan B. Anthony's Speech

For a very long time, the voting rights of the citizens have been a problem in the US. It started out with only men with land being able to vote, and then expanded to white men, and then to all men. However, women were never in the situation, they were disregarded and believed to not be worthy enough to have the same rights as men. They were essentially being treated as property, therefore having no rights. But, in Susan B. Anthony’s speech, she hits upon the point that women are just as righteous as men. Susan B. Anthony was an American social reformer and women 's rights activist, and in 1872 was arrested because she tried to vote and express her opinion in the presidential election. However, her decision was reasonable and she should not

Anthony’s use of Rhetoric, as well as figurative language further, communicates her key point, which is that each person is born equal and should be treated equally. The logos appeal is the most prominent appeal portrayed in the first half of Anthony’s speech. The logos appeal is using logic and reasoning throughout a text, and in Anthony’s speech, the logos appeal was the most noteworthy. Anthony starts out her speech by talking about the preamble which begins by saying, “We the people…” however this section of the text was never taken seriously. For instance, a woman could be paid less than a man because they are thought to be insubstantial. However, this is incorrect because the preamble says, “We the people”, and society should be thought of as a whole and should not be divided based on gender. In Anthony’s speech she says, “It is we the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we the male citizens; but we, the whole people, we formed the Union.” Anthony demonstrates how everyone is a person and the constitution clearly states that everyone should be equally treated, and people should not be discriminated based on gender or race. She explains how the citizens of the United States are supposed to be treated as a whole and are not supposed to be separated based on unnecessary factors. She uses logic and reasoning to get to the audience and tell them that constitution and preamble were written to help the country not divide it based on gender and race. She

For example Anthony says, “but this oligarchy of sex, which makes father, brothers, husband, sons, the oligarchs over the mother and sisters, the wife and daughters, of every household” This is very sad since women and girls should not be ruled or told what to do because they are thought of to be less than man. The constitution is in place to have a unified country not to have an oligarchy of men lead households. The pathos appeal is used to show what suffering women are going through due to men ruling them, and not knowing how to fight back. Susan B. Anthony in her speech also says, “Are women persons?.....and no state has the right to make a law, or to enforce an old law, that shall abridge their privileges and immunities.”, which also connects with the emotions of the audience. She is trying to make people feel bad that women are treated less even though they are just as righteous as men to have the same privileges. She also states that no state can deny women the right to vote because everyone is a person and half the population should not be discriminated based on who they are. The repeated use of the word oligarchy in the second half of the speech gives the word a very bad connotation since it talks about people ruling other people, even though everyone is born equally. The word oligarchy has a bad connotation since it means a small group of people