The Fundamental Principle Of A Republic Summary

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“The Fundamental Principle of a Republic” is a speech about women’s suffrage spoken by Anna Howard Shaw. This specific speech was given at the New York State equal suffrage campaign at the City Opera House in Ogdensburg, New York on June 21, 1915. Anna Howard Shaw was a well-known suffrage orator and social reformer. In addition to talking about women’s suffrage, this speech mentions how we, as a country, say we are a Republic but we really aren’t. The speech explains how we aren’t, by mentioning how not everyone has a say in things. It mostly deals with voting rights and women’s rights. The main point of “The Fundamental Principle of a Republic”, is that we claim to be a Republic, but we aren’t since not everyone has an equal opportunity and voice in things. In Anna Howard Shaw 's speech, she starts off by talking about how a government who claims to be a Republic should be a Republic. This happens often throughout her speech. In the speech Anna Howard Shaw states, “And they wrote into their Constitution, “All males who pay taxes on $250 …show more content…

She states that men and women are equal and should have the same rights and should not be treated differently than each other. This quote by Anna from the speech backs this point up, “Now I want to make this proposition, and I believe every man will accept it. Of course, he will if he is intelligent. Whenever a Republic prescribes the qualifications as applying equally to all the citizens of the Republic, when the Republic says in order to vote, a citizen must be twenty-one years of age, it applies to all alike, there is no discrimination against any race or sex”. (Shaw,4) Her preposition in this speech shows her passion and seriousness about the subject. In this speech her views and points of the speech are made very clear by explaining