Emily Dawson
AP Language and Composition
Ms. Jarrell
1st Period
Susan B. Anthony
Born into a Quaker family on
February 15th, 1820. Anthony was a
teacher for fifteen years, then she
devoted her life for the equality of all
people. In 1852 she joined the
women’s rights movement along side
Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Anthony
sought out for women’s suffrage the
rest of her life. She didn’t live to see
this happen as she died in 1906,
fourteen years before women could
vote.
This speech took place between Anthony’s
arrest, for illegally voting in the presidential
election of 1872, and her trial. Anthony went
around Monroe County, NY giving this speech
in the spring of 1873. She was later fined a $100
fee for her illegal actions but she refused to pay
it.
Her audience is everyone in the United States.
She isn’t just focusing on women as she
addresses the nation.
 She starts her speech by saying “Friends and
fellow citizens”.
 “ It was we, the people; not we, the white
male citizens; but we, the whole people, who
formed the union.” Hence the word “we”.
Her purpose of this speech is to prove that by her
voting she wasn’t breaking any law as she was simply
exercising her rights. Also, to make the point that all
citizens of the US should have equal voting rights.
“Friends and fellow citizens: I stand before you tonight
under indictment for the alleged crime of having voted at
the last presidential election, without having a lawful right
to vote. It shall be my work this evening to prove to you that
in thus voting, I not only committed no crime, but, instead,
simply exercised my citizen's rights, guaranteed to me and
all United States citizens by the National Constitution,
beyond the power of any state to deny.”
The subject is equal voting rights for all. She
focuses more so on women but she does
include African Americans.
“Every discrimination against women in the
constitutions and laws of the several States is
today null and void, precisely as in every one
against Negroes.”
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Persuasive – Through out the speech Anthony
uses several references to national
documents that persuades the audience to
agree with Anthony’s view on voting rights.
Serious – There aren’t any jokes being made
in the speech. Anthony is very passionate
about her opinion on women’s suffrage and
she doesn’t see it as a joking matter. Every
point she makes is done with sincerity and
earnestness.
Anthony talked about supreme laws in America and
how disqualifying women from the right to vote
based on their sex was a violation of these laws. This
helps build up her ethos because this displays that
she is aware and informed of the law.
 Anthony was a well-known advocate of the
women’s rights movements, especially women’s
right to vote.
 The fact that she voted and had the first hand
experience of being arrested for just using her rights
gives her credibility.
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She had made various appearances at
women’s rights conventions, often giving
lectures on the various topics.
She was a member of the American AntiSlavery Association and a founding member
of the National Woman Suffrage Association.
She published her own newspaper, The
Revolution.
Anthony’s speech invokes emotion in its
audience, not because of the language she
uses, personal stories or poignant words, but
from her claim that women should be able to
vote since women are persons and the
constitution does not specify gender. The line,
“Are women persons?” evokes an emotional
response from its audience, because, of course,
women are persons and it is an unjust
statement.
She refers to dictionaries, this is to clarify the
definition of what it means to be a citizen of the
United States.
“Webster, Worcester, and Bouvier all define a
citizen to be a person in the United States, entitled
to vote and hold office.”
 She argued that in the eyes of our Forefathers all
people were to be considered equals. This was a
clear logos appeal and she tried to show the
audience that it was perfectly logical to vote as
any citizen in the United States.
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Susan B. Anthony used words that her
audience would understand but that still had
purpose. This is important because not all
women had an education, by using words
that her audience could comprehend was
very important.
 Parallelism
“To them this government has no just powers derived from the
consent of the governed. To them this government is not a
democracy. It is not a republic. It is an odious aristocracy; a hateful
oligarchy of sex; the most hateful aristocracy ever established on
the face of the globe; an oligarchy of wealth, where the rich
govern the poor. An oligarchy of learning, where the educated
govern the ignorant, or even an oligarchy of race, where the
Saxon rules the African, might be endured; 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 - which ordains all men sovereigns, all women subjects,
carries dissension, discord, and rebellion into every home of the
nation.”
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Democracy and Republic vs. Oligarchy
Wealth vs. Poverty
Education vs. Ignorance
White vs. Black
Men vs. Women
Denial or Rights vs. Promise of Liberty
The direct contrasts emphasizes the
inequality that is suffered by Anthony and
others at the hands of the white male.
To them this government has no just powers derived from
the consent of the governed. To them this government is
not a democracy. It is not a republic. It is an odious
aristocracy; a hateful oligarchy of sex; the most hateful
aristocracy ever established on the face of the globe; an
oligarchy of wealth, where the rich govern the poor. An
oligarchy of learning, where the educated govern the
ignorant, or even an oligarchy of race, where the Saxon
rules the African, might be endured; 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 - which ordains all men
sovereigns, all women subjects, carries dissension,
discord, and rebellion into every home of the nation.
The preamble of the Federal Constitution
says:
”’We, the people of the United States, in
order to form a more perfect union, establish
justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide
for the common defense, promote the
general welfare, and secure the blessings of
liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do
ordain and establish this Constitution for the
United States of America.’"
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“…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 - which ordains
all men sovereigns, all women subjects, carries
dissension, discord, and rebellion into every
home of the nation.”
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Anthony, Susan B. “One Women’s Right to
Vote.” Speech. 1873. The History Place. The
History Place, 2013. Web. 9 March 2015.
“Biography.” National Susan B. Anthony Museum
and House. Susan B. Anthony House, 2013. Web.
9 March 2015.
A photo painting of Susan B. Anthony. Digital
image. Wikipedia, n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2015.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_B._Anthon
y#/media/File:Susan_B_Anthony_c1855.png>.