Kap 4 - 1. Additional text

Speech by Susan B. Anthony, 1873.

Susan B. Anthony gave this speech after she was arrested for casting an illegal vote in the presidential election of 1872. She was fined $100, which she refused to pay.

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 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."

It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union. And we formed it, not to give the blessings of liberty, but to secure them; not to the half of ourselves and the half of our posterity, but to the whole people - women as well as men. And it is a downright mockery to talk to women of their enjoyment of the blessings of liberty while they are denied the use of the only means of securing them provided by this democratic-republican government - the ballot.

For any state to make sex a qualification that must ever result in the disfranchisement of one entire half of the people, is to pass a bill of attainder, or, an ex post facto law, and is therefore a violation of the supreme law of the land. By it the blessings of liberty are forever withheld from women and their female posterity.

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.

Webster, Worcester, and Bouvier all define a citizen to be a person in the United States, entitled to vote and hold office.

The only question left to be settled now is: Are women persons? And I hardly believe any of our opponents will have the hardihood to say they are not. Being persons, then, women are citizens; and no state has a right to make any law, or to enforce any old law, that shall abridge their privileges or immunities. Hence, every discrimination against women in the constitutions and laws of the several states is today null and void, precisely as is every one against Negroes.

Study Questions

1. Describe the rhetorical situation of the speech by filling out the rhetorical pentagon. State the facts as well as characterise with adjectives and phrases:
• Who are the sender and receiver?
• What is the topic? How would you characterise the topic; controversial, uncontroversial, relatable, typical for the time it’s written?
• What are the circumstances, e.g. when/where/why is the speech given?
• What characterises the language? Is it formal/informal? Simple/complex?
2. Does Susan B. Anthony use primarily logos or pathos in the speech? And how does that affect her ethos?
3. What are other rhetorical features in the speech?
4. Have a closer look at the argumentation. What is the overall main claim of the speech? How is the claim supported by e.g. grounds, warrant, backing?
5. Would you consider the argumentation of this text valid?

Kap 4 - 2. Vocab exercise

The Declaration of Independence, 1776

Warm Up

Work in pairs

1. Explain the following words to your partner without revealing the word

 

Student A	Student B
Separate	Destruct
Mankind	Abuse
Declare	Suffer
Pursue	Dissolve
Liberty	Happiness
Government	Patient
Neglect	Injury

 

 

2. Translate and explain the meaning of the following words. Don’t use your computers to begin with.

Kap 4 - 3. Go Research

GO RESEARCH

Explain the word

• Explain the different meanings of the following words: Suffrage - suffragist - suffragette

2-minute Presentations

• In groups or pairs, research your given topic.
• Choose the most important details and information.
• Prepare a 2-minute presentation of your topic in which you include at least one photograph or image.
• Each group member must memorize the facts he or she is presenting. That is, no looking down on your notes as you present!

List of topics:

• NUWSS – National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies
• WSPU – Women’s Social and Political Union
• Emmeline Pankhurst
• Emily Davison
• The Mud March of 1907
• Millicent Fawcett
• Josephine Butler
• Black Friday November 18th 1910
• Kate Sheppard
• The Seneca Falls Convention 1848
• NAWSA – The National American Women’s Suffrage Association
• NWP – The National Woman’s Party
• Susan B. Anthony
• Elisabeth Cady Stanton
• Alice Paul