Question

Now that you’ve read Susan B. Anthony’s “On Women's Right to Vote,” write a personal reflection about the speech. Use what you’ve learned about the different elements to consider when analyzing a speech, such as the background of the speaker, the audience and purpose, the historic context, and the immediate impact. You can choose to focus on a few specific elements in the speech that stood out and added to its historical importance.

Answer 1

Answer:

Your answer might include some of the following points:

Personal background: Susan B. Anthony, a former teacher, was a prominent and outspoken advocate for women’s rights.

Audience and purpose: The immediate audience included community members and prospective jurors after she voted illegally during the 1872 presidential elections. She received a wider audience through the reports of the trial, publication of the speech, and the support of other suffragists.

Content and message: In her speech, Anthony makes several excellent points about the US Constitution guaranteeing the rights of all citizens—not just male citizens.

Historic context: During the 1872 presidential elections, the struggle for women’s rights was intense. The speaker illegally cast her vote because she believed that she was being denied her rights as a US citizen.

Immediate impact: The speech reached a wide audience of progressive women and men and intensified the struggle for equal rights for women, including the right to vote.

Historic impact: Several reformists and women’s rights and equal rights activists have referred to this historic speech through the years.

Personal impact: The speech made me recognize the importance of voting in an election.

Answer 2

In November 1872, Anthony voted in the presidential election. Two weeks later, she was arrested. After her indictment, Anthony gave her famous On Womens Right to Vote speech. In the speech, Anthony invoked the preamble to the U.S. Constitution, pointing out that it addresses We, the people, and not We, the male citizens. She argued that those countries that denied women the right to vote were oligarchies. At the end, she challenged her detractors to answer this question: Are women persons?

During her trial, Anthony was unable to testify on her behalf, since womens testimony was not considered to be competent. Instead, her lawyer presented her arguments. She was convicted of casting an illegal vote and fined $100. Anthony refused to pay the fine, stating, May it please your honor, I will never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty. Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God.