“It was we, the people;
not we, the white male citizens…” – Susan B. Anthony
Two women came together to form a powerful team. Susan B.
Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. These two lived in a time when women were
seen as the inferior sex and they had enough. The founded the National Woman
Suffrage Association, they gave speeches, they marched and protested in order
to be heard. They were opposed the 15th amendment, which would give
African American men the right to vote, unless they added women’s rights to
vote.
In 1872, Susan B. Anthony decided to lead a group of women
in a march to the polls in order to vote in the presidential election. “This
march set the pattern for the use of civil disobedience and subsequent court
action and to attract attention and adherents.” These women were not about to
back down and they proved that through their actions and their words.
Anthony and Stanton both gave powerful speeches that would
have given other women the courage to stand up and fight for their rights. They
both addressed the gentle power that women could bring as opposed to the blind
dominance that men fought for. Some examples from Stanton’s speech are:
“The male element is a destructive force, stern, selfish,
aggrandizing, loving war, violence, conquest, acquisition, breeding in the
material and moral world alike discord, disorder, disease, and death. See what
a record of blood and cruelty the pages of history reveal!”
“There is a striking analogy between matter and mind, and
the present disorganization of society warns us that in the dethronement of
woman we have let loose the elements of violence and ruin that she only has the
power to curb.”
“Whatever is done to lift woman to her true position will
help to usher in a new day of peace and perfection for the race.”
Susan B. Anthony addressed how the “oligarchy of sex” would
negatively impact the home.
“this oligarchy of sex, which makes father, brothers,
husband, sons, the oligarchs over the mother and sisters, the wife and
daughters, of every household— which ordains all men sovereigns, all women
subjects, carries dissension, discord , and rebellion into every home of the
nation.”
They were reaching out to the women to call them to join the cause. They inspired many women who stood up to fight as suffragettes but it would be a long battle. The National Woman Suffrage Association was founded in 1869 but women would not gain the right to vote until the ratification of the 19th amendment on August 18th 1920.
What is calling women to arms exactly? It seems like she spoke as though fighting and destruction was a masculine idea, was she being hypocritical in her struggle to find a voice for women? Her message was being delivered in the wake of a great war and there were lots of feelings already hurt in the american people by that conflict. How did she see the war, or was that even relevant to her cause?
ReplyDeleteGood catch. That was my mistake and I went through and fixed it. She wasn't calling women to arms but rather to join the cause.
DeleteI think it would be helpful for you to analyze the quotes in terms of appeals and other rhetorical elements. Personally I see a lot of pathetic appeal because little reasoning is used in their fired-up statements. Although historical events are referenced so they are trying to validate their cause as well.
ReplyDeleteI think that the most powerful appeal to logic is when they used the clarifying statement that "we, the people," does not mean "we, the white males." They force the audience to acknowledge that when it says "we, the people" it actually means all people are people. Which sounds obvious to anyone with modern sensibilities.
ReplyDeleteIn light of the time in which they lived, they put their reputations on the line to fight for something that we take for granted and often underutilize. It seems the influence that they wanted us to wield has become a sleeping giant. I wonder what they would think of us, living so far under our privileges?
ReplyDelete