The College at Brockport: State University of New York Digital Commons @Brockport Communication Theses Communication 8-1989 Susan B. Anthony: The Rhetorical Strategy of Her Constitutional Argument (1872) Ann Miraglia The College at Brockport Follow this and additional works at:http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/cmc_theses Part of theSpeech and Rhetorical Studies Commons Repository Citation Miraglia, Ann, "Susan B. Anthony: The Rhetorical Strategy of Her Constitutional Argument (1872)" (1989).Communication Theses. 4. http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/cmc_theses/4 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Communication at Digital Commons @Brockport. It has been accepted for inclusion in Communication Theses by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @Brockport. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SUSAN B. ANTHONY: THE RHETORICAL STRATEGY OF HER CONSTITUTIONAL ARGUMENT (1872) by ANN MIRAGLIA A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Speech Communicatioa of State University Colle~e at Brockport ia partial fulfillment of the requirements for the de~ee of Master of Arts August, 1989 Approved by Thesis Committee: ~r wrJ_ /{) ~sor Committee Member /&_~ ~ / ~. ..... ~- L Committee Member Accepted for the Department of Communication by "No information derived from this thesis may be published without permission of the original author, with whom copyright lies." TABLE OF CONTE:NITS CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 1 Research Question ................................................................................................................. 1 Definition of Terms ............................................................................................................... 2 Review of Relevant Research and Theory ......................................................................... 3 Research Design ...................................................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER TWO: A HISTORY OF SUSAN B. AN'TIIONY AND THE WOMAN'S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT ........................................................... 7 Status of \Vomen .................................................................................................................... 7 Leaders in Movement. ............................................................................................................. 8 Focus on Suffrage ................................................................................................................. 10 CHAPTER THREE: THE RHETORICAL CRI1EH1A. ................................................. 13 Aristotelian Rhetoric ........................................................................................................... 13 Nineteenth Century Rhetorical Approaches ................................................................... 17 Twentieth Century Approaches··············~··········································································· 22 Authenticizy and Accuracy ................................................................................................. ·23 CHAPTER FOUR: THE AUDIENCE .................................................................................. 25 The County of Monroe ........................................................................................................ 26 Population Education Politics Social The Coun1y of Ontario ........................................................................................................ 28 Population Education Social The Rhetorical Situation ..................................................................................................... 30 CHAPTER FIVE: ANALYSIS OF 'THE SPEECH ............................................................ 34 CHAPTER SIX: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ...................................................... 71 CHAPTER NOTES Chapter One Notes .................................................................................................. 77 Chapter Two Notes .................................................................................................. 78 Chapter Three Notes ............................................................................................... 80 Chapter Four Notes .................................................................................................. 83 Chapter Five Notes ............ .......................................................... ............................. 85 Chapter Six Notes ..................................................................................................... 87 SELE~ BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................... 88 ~v1iragiia 11 ACKNOWLEDGE:ME,NTS I wish to acknowledge and extend my deepest gratitude to those who have assisted me in this work: To Floyd D ...: l..nderson for not only laying a sure foundation in rhetorical theory and heories o[ persuasion. but more importantly. for seiVing as a c.itallenging model of a scnolar. 1 To Akira Sanbonmatsu~ for suggesting this area of research and for providing a constant source of encouragement and direction. but most of all for sharing with me his excitement for discovering the hidden worid that rhetorical criticisn1 releases and equipping me with a methodology to aid in that discovery. To Billy Reed. for his counsel and guidance and who, as Advisor and Committee Chairman, managed the time aspects of this project, enabling me to accomplish it in an orderly and exp~ditious fashion. Finally, to my husband. Michael. for the untlagging love. support and confidence he gave freely to make this accomplishment possible. Miraglia 1 CHAPTER ONE Introdactioa Beginning on M[arch 11, 1873, Susan B. Anthony in preparation for her trial for voting illegally in Rochester, New York, delivered a speech on "The Equal Right of All Citizens to the Ballot" in each of the 29 post office districts of Monroe County. When her trial was moved to Ontario County she spoke on "Is It a Crime for A Citizen of the United States to Vote?" in 21 of Ontario's post office districts prior to her trial to be held in Canandaigua in June 1873. She stated the purpose of her speech with clarity and brevity: It siJall be my J¥or.k this evening to prove to .;vou tbal in /bus doin& I not on.(v committed no buti nstead simp{y m,v citizens guacmteed to me 4c.tim~ eren:i.~ .tig/J~ aod all Uoitecl States citizens b;_v t!Je National C',oosbtuhon beyond t!Je power ofa .o.,v State to d~v. .I Anthony's decision to vote in the presidential election held on November 5. 1872, crystallized from two basic elements. First, the Republican party broke promises made at the beginning of the Civil War to give political support for woman's suffrage in exchange for support for the abolition of slavery. z Second, Francis Minor, a St Louis lawyer, believed that women, as "persons," were citizens of the United States and, as such, had the same right to vote as the Negro under the recently enacted Fourteenth Amendment3 Miss Anthony set out to test that idea by voting. This speech mlarked a pivotal point in the woman's suffrage movement--whether women already had the right to vote or whether a constitutional amendment was needed to give it It set forth for the consideration of the general public--those who may be called as the jury of her peers---the constitutional argument for woman's suffrage based on citizenship. In a sense, Anthony 'Was taking her case directly to the people. This could affect the outcome of her trial particularly, and the woman's movement generally. Considering the importance of the disposition of this triat a study of the rhetorical situation and the rht!torical strategies Anthony used in this speech would be valuable. Noneilieless, there does not appear to be such a study in the works suiVeyed. either by Anthony herself, her biographers or rhetorical critics. The Research. Qaestion Was Anthony's speech persuasive? If so, what made it persuasive? What effect did it have on her audien4~? This study analyzes and evaluates the rhetorical strategies, such as the use of credibility, logical and emotional appeals and identification with audience values, Miraglia 2 used by Anthony in her speech in Monroe and Ontario counties prior to her trial for the crime of voting illegally. To determine these strategies and to evaluate her rhetorical competence to develop and present them, the following questions and sub-questions were posed: 1. What was Anthony:s relationship to the rhetorical issues? a) What were her views on women's rights generally and woman's suffrage particu- larly? b) What part had Anthony had in these issues prior to her arrest? c) What was her implicit and specific purpose in speaking?· 2. What characterized the rhetorical situation? a) What condition invited or required Anthony to speak? b) How did this condition dictate the purpose, theme, matter and style of Anthony's response? c) How did Anthony)s discourse engage the audience to become a mediator of change? 3. What rhetorical strategies did Anthony use? a) What was Anthony's reputation as a speaker? b) Who was the audience Anthony was seeking to influence? c) What were their beliefs and attitudes? d) How did Anthony identify with these in her speech? e) What were the rhetorical problems and how did Anthony deal with them? 4. How effective were Anthony's rhetorical strategies? a) What was the short term effect for her trial? b) \Vhat was the long term effect for woman's suffrage? DcfiD.itioa of Teras The following definitions are offered to clarify terms used in the Research Question: Persuasive: The extent to which the speaker is able to change the audience's beliefs, attitudes and/or actions to conform with the speaker's. Miraglia 3 Rhetoric: The faculty of discovering in a given case the available means of persuasion. Rhetorical Situation: A natural context of persons, events, objects, relations and an exigence which strongly invites utterance. Rhetorical Strategies: The speaker's creative identification, selection, and combination of rhetorical elements that will enable her to deal successfully with the situation facing her. Effective: The measure of persuasion produced in the audience as a result of the use of rhetorical strategies compared with the speaker's intent Scope and Limitatioa of the Study This study will focus on Anthony's construction of rhetorical strategies in her speech in Monroe and Ontario Counties dictated by the rhetorical situation existent subsequent to her arrest and prior to her trial for voting illegally. The speech text to be examined is that offered by Ida Harper in her book, The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony. It is a well known fact that Anthony spoke extemporane ously almost exclusively. She once commented, I could never t!Jio.K up poin~ iJDd I c.ao -'1 Mite a speeciJ out I must At6ve dd t1Udieoce to inspire me. W.Oeo I 3J11 before a ./Jouse illled wit/J people I cao speaK, but to &?Ve myl ife I couldo t wnle a speec.IJ. . 4 For this reason, the speech text is offered conditionally: it may be incomplete--an abridged synopsis--compiled from memory after its delivery. However, it may be that further research into her diaries and papers will shed light on the value of this speech text Review of Relevaat Research aad Theory While there have been many studies of the woman's movement and its participants, including Susan B. . Anthony, a suzvey of related research, bibliographies, abstracts and studies on Anthony uncovered no study of the rhetorical strategies Anthony used in this speech. Bibliographies and abstracts included Dissertaboo Abstracts; 5 Speec.IJ Mooograp~6 BihliograpiJic Iode:(1 (1937-1987), Bi/Jiiograp/Jic AoouaJ,8 (1970-1973, 1975). Coleman9 did a research study on rhetorical proofs used by suffragists and the inventio that dominated their oratory. Feld10 found the suffrage phase of the woman's movement to be generally a Miraglia 4 failure, its minor success "primarily due to the suffragists' ability to adapt to the rhetorical situation which confronted them." A study by Sanbonmatsu,11 though not related to Anthony's speaking, was helpful in describing Burke's identification strategies. Ju.stificatio• of the Study The literature sutveyed indicates the need of a study of this nature to properly understand the use of rhetorical strategies in a developing class of rhetoricians: women. The adoption of these strategies had wide-ranging and long-lasting effects--on the immediate audience, the social issues and women as a class. For example, Freedman's12 study of American feminism indicates that women's "identification with men's attitudes and values" brought about a decline in female separation that impacts on the women's movement today. This proposed study, by examining the rhetorical situation and the rhetorical strategies adopted by Anthony to respond to it will clearly analyze the seeds that are bearing fruit in the contemporary feminist rhetoric. Research Desiga This study in evaluating this rhetorical transaction will attempt to authenticate the speech text, analyze its content and evaluate its effectiveness. Authentication: The credibility of the speech text will be determined with the following criteria: a) Who originated it? b) When? c) What limitations might it bring to the analysis? Analysis: Analysis will use both internal and external evidence to discover the three modes of proof available to Anthony--ethos, pathos and logos, as defined by Aristotle: The first kind resides in the character of the speaker; the second consist in producing a certain attitude in the hearer; the third appertain to the argument proper, in so far as it actually or seemingly demonstrates. The character of the speaker is a cause of persuasion when the speech is so uttered as to make him worthy of belief. .. Secondly, persuasion is effected through the audience, when they are brought by the speech into a state of emotion. ..