Susan B Anthony Women's Right To The Suffrage Analysis

Women's Right To The Suffrage Persuasive

In “The Woman’s Right To the Suffrage” Susan B. Anthony persuades the U.S. that women should have the right to vote, by stating that if women are people then by definition they should be able to vote. In the Constitution it says we the people not we the men so there should be equal rights. This speech was most compelling because she used logos very well with evidence you can’t deny. She also referenced other famous speeches, that really convinced you to believe that women should have equal rights.

The most important main idea in this document is the last paragraph because it brings up how they are people. She makes her point stick into your head by bringing up the definition of a citizen and says that
women are people too. She says, “Are women persons? And I hardly believe any of our opponents will have the hardihood to say they are not.” Susan B. Anthony makes a point right here that is impossible to deny. She also brings up three documents she does this because it makes the point 3 different sources say the same thing so it must be true it isn’t just her imagination. She does this by saying, “Webster, Worcester and Bouvier all define a citizen to be a persons in the United States entitled to vote and hold office.” In this paragraph she also states, “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.” In this quote Susan B. Anthony is using logos. She does this by stating that if this is true, then this is true, so this has to be true. If she wouldn’t have used logos they would have thought of her as uneducated and that this doesn’t mean anything.

That isn’t the only important argument she makes, another important main idea is when she talks about the constitution and how it says we the people.
She says, “It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people…” She is referencing the constitution because it supports her claim that all women deserve the same rights as men. She does this because people respect the constitution and if even the document that we based the country on says women deserve equal rights then it is probably true. Susan B. Anthony also states, “ 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…” This uses ethos because she tries to use her credibility to state that you are mocking us with the idea of freedom in this country when it isn’t happening. She also talks about how women are half of the people, and if you don’t give them the same rights then you aren’t respecting half of the first line of the constitution. She does this by saying, “... not to the half of ourselves and the half of our posterity, but to the whole people-- women as well as men.” In all of these quotes she uses at least a little bit of logos or ethos, by using these two rhetorical devices combined she can effectively persuade you to give women equal
rights.

Another important main idea that persuades us to believe that Susan B. Anthony is correct when she tells us women deserve equal rights is the main idea that talks about sex qualifications are unfair. In this chunk of text she says, “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…” In this statement we are persuaded by logos because she tells us that by making sex a qualification you are leaving out half of the people. In this paragraph she also talks about how liberty is being withheld forever from women, by talking about this she is using pathos in a way because she tries to make all men of this time understand what it would feel like to never be able to vote. She communicates this idea by saying, “By it the blessings of liberty are forever withheld from women and their female posterity.” She also says, “...violation of the supreme law of the land.” In this quote she uses ethos because she tries to establish credibility. She uses her credibility by using big vocabulary, she also brings up the supreme law of the land which makes you want to believe Susan B. Anthony.

In “Women’s Right to the Suffrage” Susan B. Anthony uses the rhetorical device logos to persuade you to believe women should be able to vote. She references the constitution to establish credibility that even the document that founded our country says we deserve these rights. She also uses definitions of words like citizens that make he points to equal women's rights even to women without even knowing it. She will also persuade you to believe this isn’t just about voting and every women deserves the same rights as men. By doing all of this you can’t make a case against what she wants because she anticipates what you will say and already has an argument against it before you say it.