Women's Suffrage Rhetorical Analysis

“Beginning in the 1800s, women organized petitioned and pocketed to won three right to vote but it took them decades to accomplish their purpose”(archive.com). The organized movement started at Seneca Falls, NY with a meeting called by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. The most influential leaders during the movements were Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The Suffragists and Suffragettes were trying to prove to the public that women could be doing other things apart from looking after the children and taking care of the homes. The Seneca Falls convention was organized by a group of women who had been active in the antislavery movement. The Seneca Falls Declaration called for an increase in women’s rights in these areas, as well as in education for women and the jobs available to

The entire Women’s Movement in the United States has been quite extensive. It can be traced back to 1848, when the first women’s rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York. After two days of discussions, 100 men and women signed the Declaration of Sentiments. Drafted by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, this document called for equal treatment of women and men under the law and voting rights for women. This gathering set the agenda for the rest of the Women’s Movement long ago (Imbornoni). Over the next 100 years, many women played a part in supporting equal treatment for women, most notably leading to the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which allowed women the right to vote.

In November 1917, Carrie Chapman Catt, leader of National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), gave an address to the United States Congress expressing her belief that woman’s suffrage was inevitable, and requesting that Congress see it as such and vote to pass the amendment. Catt’s speech was based on facts and figures (ethos) from our own country’s history, logic, reasoning, and common sense (logos); it was hard for any man to argue with, which was her goal. Catt had given hundreds of speeches in her life, and in this case, she planned her approach to be factual and unemotional to get through to those that thought of women as

Woodrow Wilson, Carrie Chapman Catt, and Susan B. Anthony share a common purpose in their addresses advocating women’s suffrage.Wilson’s Address to the Senate on the Nineteenth Amendment expresses the opinion he holds about the lack of control over women being able to vote; he prioritizes the use of logos to create an argument consisting of present fact and his own belief of how the rest of the world will see them as a nation if they do not ratify the Nineteenth Amendment. Catt’s The Crisis analyzes her present issue of the acknowledgement of women’s suffrage. Catt explains that through the acknowledgement of women’s suffrage, women have been given more freedom, yet not the same equality as men. Catt wants more than just exceptions to social rules, she wants people to understand that a woman is not only an imperative cog in the societal machine, but equality should never be a crisis again. Susan B. Anthony wastes no time getting to the point in On Women’s Right to Vote; she instantly begins her speech with a strong denial of allegations thrown her way and moves right in to speak about the government basing a law off the sex of a person and how the government is not treated as a democracy. Through each of these addresses Wilson, Catt, and Anthony are divided by their point of view and united by their cause, yet only Carrie Chapman Catt’s address holds the most effective reasoning.

“To the wrongs that need resistance, to the right that needs assistance, to the future in the distance, give yourselves.” These are the powerful words of Carrie Chapman Catt, a notorious American Women’s Suffrage leader who had a tremendous impact on the Women’s Right Movement, and the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920. This inspirational quote not only symbolizes the Women’s Rights Movement and what it stood for, but also shows a glimpse of just how determined and driven women were to make a difference then, and for the future. The 19th amendment to the constitution of the United States guarantees all women nationwide the right to vote,

World War I also provided women with the means to finally achieve suffrage. Groups such as the National American Woman Suffrage Association, led by Carrie Chapman Catt, enthusiastically joined the war effort, thereby intertwining patriotism and women’s rights. After the House of Representatives passed the women’s suffrage amendment in January 1918, President Wilson told the nation, “We have made partners of the women in this war. Shall we admit them only to a partnership of suffering and sacrifice and toil and not to a partnership of privilege and right?” (James and Wells, 67-68). True political equality did not result from the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment—very few female candidates were elected in the 1920s—but, in the words of Allen, “the winning of the suffrage had its effect. It consolidated woman’s position as man’s equal” (96).

In the speech, Equal Rights for Women by Shirley Chisholm, main rhetor in the speech. She is the first African American woman to be elected to Congress. She is part of the House, Representative in Washington D.C, from May 21, 1969, to 1983. She entered the primaries for the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 1972. Chisholm purpose is to fight for equal rights for all citizens, most specifically women. She wants to help as an advocate by providing more opportunities for women and encouraging women to do different men's work field, other than just working as a secretary, teacher, librarian, or to just be a household woman. She wants to eliminate discrimination; prejudiced on the political view of a woman. By analyzing Shirley Chisholm’s speech through rhetorical devices like the use of a strong tone, ethos, and logos, among others, this essay will seek to show how effectively Chisholm’s persuades the audience.

With over five million women, men and children united in all seven continents, the Women’s March was by far the largest and most peaceful protest in history. Washington, Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Sydney and Paris are only a few out of the many cities world-wide that all groups of ages, genders, races and religions merged together on January 21st, 2017 to send a clear message to the brand-new government of the United States. Accumulating no arrest, the protesters conveyed that all rights are women’s rights, making the demonstration a successful act of civil disobedience. Although the Women’s March has yet to force the Congress to reform civil policy, the protest, along with all peaceful resistances, continue to positively impact free societies.

Carrie Chapman Catt was an extraordinary woman and activist promoting the rights of women for their political freedoms. Moreover, Catt’s background as a principal, teacher, superintendent of schools, and women’s activist gave credibility to her being a well-educated and refined woman, providing the ethos of her claim. (History.com) For this reason, she was more than capable of advocating for all women of our great country in the fight to allow women the right to a say in their government by giving them the right to vote. Catt argued in her speech to Congress in 1917 that “Woman suffrage was inevitable.” (qtd. in Edinmuller) Through applying ethos, presenting logos, and most importantly emphasizing pathos lead to the success of Catt’s impassioned speech to Congress. The construction of this speech convinced her audience that change is inevitable as well as necessary for this country to become the great

Women’s rights were not always a part of society as it may seem in today’s world. Suffrage can date all the way back to 1776. Women had to fight for their rights and privileges, hard and for many years. In the late 1800’s women were seen as much less than a male and had no voice. Women were arrested, prosecuted and put down for wanting more freedom and power for their gender. As you see in many suffrage ads, women were desperate and wanted so badly the same equality as men. A few women in particular stood up for what they believed was right and fought hard. Although it took far too long and over 100 years, in 1920 women were finally given the opportunity to share the same voting rights as men. History had been made.

In 1848 a group of women met at the Seneca Falls Convention in New York and began to formulate a demand for the enfranchisement of American women (Women’s Suffrage, 2011). Elizabeth Cady Stanton composed the Declaration of Sentiments, modeled after the Declaration of Independence, stating that “a man should not withhold a woman's rights, take her property or refuse to allow her to vote” (Kelly, 2011, para.3 ). The convention participants spent two days arguing and refining the content of the Declaration of Sentiments, then voted on its contents; the document received support from about one third of the delegates in attendance. The Seneca Falls Convention was not a resounding success, but it “represented an important first step in the evolving campaign for women’s rights” (Tindall & Shi, 2010, p.374, para.1).

The timeline of women’s suffrage is a one that spans from 1848 to 1920. The women’s rights movement in the United States started in the year 1848 with the first women’s rights convention held in Seneca Falls, New York. During this convention the ‘Declaration of sentiments’ was signed by 68 women who agreed that women deserved their own political identities. This document set forward the agenda for the women’s rights movement. In the year 1869, Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton formed the National Women’s suffrage Association which demanded that the 15th amendment be changed to include women right to vote. In the year 1890, The National Women Suffrage Association and the American Women Suffrage Association merged to form National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Colorado was the first state to grant women the right to vote in the year 1893, followed by Utah, Idaho, Washington, California, Oregon, Kansas, Arizona, Alaska, Illinois, Montana, Nevada, New York, Michigan, South Dakota and Oklahoma. The National Association of Colored Women was formed in the year 1896 to promote the civil rights of colored women. The National Women’s Trade Union League was established in the year 1903 in order to improve the working condition for women and also to bring their wages in par with that of men.

The creation and advancement of the United States national government sparked recognition by women to understand the importance of and wanting the right to vote. Women’s rights and the reform movement were a contentious request at best. Not until 1848 did an organized convention occur that would later serve as a building block towards women’s rights advancements in the future. The United States was governed by all men who already had an opinion of what a women’s place in society should be, in the home, and the issue of women’s rights was

Women eventually became repulsive against the standards of which they were being held to, yet they had to remain quiet. Several organizations were created regarding women’s suffrage. Many of the organizations had committed members who devoted all of their free time to the organization. Susan Brownell Anthony was one of those committed members. Anthony was born on February 15, 1820 in Adams, Massachusetts. She became interested in Women suffrage at a young age. She practically devoted her life to the Women’s Suffrage Movement. Anthony’s father worked as a farmer. Eventually he became wealthy by starting a cotton mill. Despite their, wealth they lived a simple life. Keeping up with their Quaker faith. Quakers believed in equality between the sexes. Anthony was raised in an environment filled with outspoken women resulting in her outspoken personality. In 1849, Anthony quit her job and rejoined her parents, who moved to Rochester Newyork, where Anthony became intrigued with the fight for women 's suffrage. Anthony 's participation in several organizations and outspoken nature made her a target for criticism. The editors of the newspaper attempted to perceive her to the public as a “bitter spinster” who only had interest in Women Suffrage because she could not find a husband, when in fact Anthony had received numerous proposals all of which she had refused. She felt that if she were to get married she would

This new generation of activists fought with this new agenda for almost 20 years until a few states in the West began to extend the vote to women. The Eastern and Southern states still refused to give in, but this didn’t stop the National American Woman Suffrage Association. In 1916, Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the NAWSA, worked vigorously to get women’s organizations from all over the country together and fight side by side. “One group of activists, led by Alice Paul and her National Woman’s Party, lobbied for full quality for women under the law” (Divine). She used mass marches and hunger strikes as strategies, but she was eventually forced to resign because of her insistence on the use of militant direct-action tactics (Grolier). Finally, during World War 1, women were given more opportunities to work, and were able to show that they were just as deserving as men when it came to the right to vote. On August 18th, 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified, allowing women to vote. This drawn-out and arduous battle opened a new window of opportunity for women all over the country. Significant changes in both social life and job availability began to create what is now referred to as the “new women.”