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Therie Montero
English 5
Jason Melton
May 16, 2016
A Feminist Analysis of Susan B. Anthony's Speech
Susan. B. Anthony gave an empowering speech about women's right to vote. In this
speech, which was given on 1873 in Rochester, New York, she tries to unite every citizen of the
United States to stand with her and achieve the right to vote for women. She was fighting during
the women's rights movement where only white males were given power and authority in
America. Anthony is a women's rights activist who devoted her life towards gender equality in
the United States. She was arrested for attempting to vote in the 1872 presidential election and
while she was in trial she gave the speech that asked, "Is it a crime for a U.S. citizen to vote?.
Susan B. Anthony effectively uses rhetorical devices such as an inspirational and assertive tone,
strategy, pathos and ethos in her speech to strongly send out her message that every female
citizen has the inalienable right to vote.
The voice and tone of her speech added the right amount of emotion that gave her speech
more power. In the line, "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"(Susan B. Anthony via The History Place), Anthony's voice makes it so that the
conversation is personal and the tone is quite angry and aggressive. She uses this tone to convey
her strong feelings towards the situation the she is currently in. Towards the middle and end of
the speech in, "Hence, every discrimination against women in the constitution and laws of the
several states is today null and void"(Anthony), the tone changes to be more hopeful and

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inspirational to give the audience an incentive for joining her fight and to connect with her
listeners. This strategy makes her speech stronger and relatable to the public and the audience
impact is strong with a call to action.
The genre of this speech is persuasive with strong connections that Anthony makes with
the listeners by using "we", "us", and "they. These words help Anthony and the listeners
distinguish the victims from the oppressors and to create a sense of inclusiveness within her
listeners. In a persuasive speech, the writer has a message and uses supporting evidence that help
claim that message to be true. The piece of evidence that Anthony has is the U.S. Constitution
and her experiences with the government. The use of the Constitution helped Anthony greatly by
taking the words of the founding fathers that many American men saw as law of the land and
used it to benefit her cause. Susan B. Anthony was ahead of her time by asking for equal; rights
in a patriarchal Anglo society that took great comfort in the norm of the time which was to not
give anyone who was not them any sort of power. But she deviated from the norm through this
speech by speaking publicly about a topic that was deemed controversial at the time.
The effectiveness of the essay was largely impacted by how well she used her pathos and
ethos. Anthony used pathos and ethos greatly to give a sense of unity within the listeners.
Anthony said that, "It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; but we, the whole
people, who formed the Union... not to the half of ourselves and the half of our posterity, but to
the whole people- women as well as men" (Anthony). Anthony used pathos to inspire the
listeners and to create a connection with them using we. She used this sense of inclusion to
create a bond that each listener not only has with the speaker but also with one another and tells
them that they all have a common goal. Another passage from the speech that contained pathos
is, "To them this government has not just powers derived from the consent of the governed. To

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them this government is not a democracy... an oligarchy of wealth, where the rich govern the
poor" (Anthony). In this quote, she uses pathos to create a divide between the people and the
government. She uses strong words such as "hateful" to create a feeling of animosity towards the
government. She also uses "them" to a great extent to deviate her and her listeners from the
government and tried to incite anger from her audience.
Another rhetorical device she used is ethos which is found in the quote, "We, the people
of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice" (Anthony). This
quote was added to show that from the very beginning women were part of the creation of the
United States of America and the constitution was created to give every citizen, man and woman,
the right to vote. In the line, "Are women persons? (Anthony) the rhetorical question contained
ethos. She tries to show the listeners that men are no different than women but are treated less by
them. Women were thought of as second class citizens with no rights and she wanted to change
this mindset with this speech. The rhetorical devices gave the speech strong emotions and
connections that made the listeners want to be part of this movement
In conclusion Anthony uses the tone, genre and strategies, as well as pathos and ethos to
help her create a strong speech that would send her message of equality for all quite effectively.
Her voice and tone captures her audience attention as well as their support. Her genre and
strategy gave her the power to distinguish the victims from the aggressors and her ethos and
pathos helped her create a bond with her listeners. It also helped make the feel what she felt at
the time which was anger and hope for a better future that included a voice for everyone.

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Works Cited
Anthony, Susan B. "The History Place: Great Speeches Collection Susan B. Anthony Speech
Women's Right to Vote" The History Place. N.p., 1873. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.