Sample Informative Outline
General End: To Inform
Specific End: To inform my audience about the influences in Susan B. Anthony’s life, and the
impacts she had on society.
I. Introduction:
A. (Attention Getter) Before the 20th Century, women were considered to be property
of their husbands. They were nothing more than pretty objects that were polished
at “finishing schools.” Their minds were considered delicate and inferior. Their
opinions, when they were brave enough to voice them, were ignored.
B. (Audience Adaptation) Today the role of women in American society is very
different. However, the social equality that women enjoy today is the result of
many battles that began in the late 1800s with women’s rights advocate Susan B.
Anthony.
C. (Purpose Statement) Therefore, greatly influenced by her father and job
discrimination, Susan B. Anthony was an energetic social reformer for alcohol
use and women’s rights.
II. Body:
A. (Influences) Susan B. Anthony’s father, as well as the many inequalities of her
time, had a great deal to do with the person she became.
1. (Influence 1) Anthony’s father was a man of great integrity; he was an
independent thinker who passed these traits to his daughter.
a. Daniel Anthony, like many other Quakers, did not vote and did not
approve of taxes. In fact, when it was time to pay taxes, he would
deposit his wallet on the tax collector’s table and have the tax
collector take out the appropriate sum of money himself (Rustad
and Saunders-Smith 13).
b. Daniel Anthony was also opposed to liquor and slavery.
1. It was expected that liquor would be sold at the company
store, but Daniel Anthony refused to sell it because of his
beliefs (Rustad and Saunders-Smith 14).
2. In addition, he did not want to sell slave-produced cotton,
so Anthony tried to buy cotton that was not produced by
slaves (Rustad and Saunders-Smith 22).
c. Fortunately for Susan, her father also believed that in addition to
his sons, his daughters should be educated as well. In fact, in the
Quaker tradition, he believed in education for all members of
society.
2. (Influence 2) Secondly, job and wage discrimination were common in the
late 1800s. While helping her father get out of debt by working as a
schoolteacher, Susan learned about economic inequality that was accepted
at that time.
a. Susan discovered that male teachers, with the same qualifications,
made at least four times the amount of her weekly wages, which
was $2.50 (Sherr 134).
b. Women could not get better jobs even if they wanted to because
the good jobs were always given to the men, even if the women
were more highly qualified.
1. Men thought that women were too incompetent to be
lawyers, ministers, or doctors.
2. It was not until the turn of the century that women even
attempted to pursue these careers.
B. (Contributions) Because of her influences, Susan B. Anthony’s many
accomplishments helped reform the United States in the 19th century for the
Temperance Movement, as well as the Women’s Rights Movement.
1. (Contribution 1) Her first efforts were devoted to the Temperance
Movement, or the banning of alcohol
a. Unfortunately, Susan’s pursuit to be a member for the Temperance
Movement came to a standstill because most of the Temperance
groups were for men only (Sherr 345).
b. As a result, Susan formed the Women’s State Temperance Society
of New York, which was the first of its kind (Sherr 350).
c. It was through Susan’s work in the Temperance Movement that
she became increasingly aware that women did not have the same
rights as men.
2. (Contribution 2) Another way Anthony impacted society was through her
work in helping women become equal to men. In 1851, Susan met
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a leader in the women’s rights movement, and the
two soon became close friends and coworkers in the movement (Sherr
380.
a. To show her support for dress reform, Susan wore bloomers (a
type of loose pants), which became a symbol of the movement.
1. The activists believed that dress reform was an important
part of women’s equality (Klingel and Noyed 25).
2. At that time, it was socially taboo for women to show their
legs. Susan and others argued that the physical restrictions
of women’s clothes were a reflection of the political and
social restrictions imposed on women.
b. In 1869, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton formed a
group that worked towards obtaining the rights for women to vote,
which was called the National Suffrage Association (Sherr 400).
Suffrage means the right to vote.
c. In 1872, Susan was arrested and fined $100 because she voted in
the Presidential election. This, of course, was illegal for women to
do. She never paid the fine, and no further action was ever taken
against her (Klingel and Noyed 20).
d. From 1881-1886, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
edited three volumes of a book called History of Woman Suffrage
(Rustad 25).
III. Conclusion
A. (Summary) In the end, groomed by a liberal father and angered by the conditions
of her time, Susan B. Anthony’s rebellious character helped change the way
women were treated in this country.
B. (Clincher) Sadly, Susan B. Anthony never saw her dream of women’s suffrage
come true: She died in 1906, 14 years before the 19th Amendment to the
Constitution was passed (Sherr 416). However, if alive today, there is no doubt
that she would be proud to see the progress she initiated. In her own words, she
had the foresight to know the impact she would have: “The older I get, the greater
power I seem to have to help the world; I am like a snowball—the further I am
rolled, the more I gain” (qtd. In Lewis 2010).
Works Cited
Kingel, Cynthia Fitterer and Robert B. Noyed. Susan B. Anthony: Reformer. Chanhassen: The
Child’s World, Inc. 2002. Print.
Lewis, Jone Johnson. “Susan B. Anthony Quotes.” About.com: Women’s History. The New
York Times Company, 2010. Web. 15 December 2010.
Rustad, Martha E. and Gail Saunders-Smith. Susan B. Anthony. Mankoto: Capstone Press,
2001. Print.
Sherr, Lynn. Failure is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony in Her Own Words. New York: Crown
Publishing Group, 1996. Print.