Elizabeth Cady Stanton's Speech Analysis Essay

In the recovery period of the Civil War, Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s speech at the Women’s Suffrage Convention in 1868 pushes for women’s voting rights while criticizing the harmful actions of enfranchised men and the American government, as she speaks and sympathizes with her fellow female suffragists. Stanton’s blunt and assertive language, comparisons between the characteristics of man and womanhood, and appeal to religious feeling help to achieve her argument that the enfranchisement of women would significantly benefit and improve the destructive society men have created. 

Stanton’s blunt and assertive language is able to capture the audience’s attention towards her argument. She consciously begins her speech with the words “I urge a sixteenth amendment,” signaling to the audience that there is necessity and importance to the amendment Stanton is trying to achieve. Starting the speech with a word like “urge” also engages the audience as the verb compels them to help out in some way. As the speech progresses, Stanton directly addresses women’s enfranchisement by starting it with the words “we ask.” The shift from “urge” to “ask” is significant to Stanton’s message as she is conscious that women’s suffrage is not the popular opinion in America. Therefore, she uses a verb that is less assertive, but still stern, so that the men and government Stanton addresses will be more open to listening to her ideas. The most effective example of Stanton’s bold language is in the adjectives she uses to describe men. She outright says that males are “destructive,” “selfish,” and “loving war, violence…” All these describing words provide negative portrayals of men which help Stanton build the narrative that men are problematic and should not be in control of America’s lifestyle. Stanton continues with this rhetoric throughout her speech as she later asserts that man “stands appalled at the results of his own excesses [of life].” She powerfully chooses the word ‘appalled’ so that it perpetuates an almost child-like and immature image of men– surprised by the horrors in society that they have created. Although her language can be seen as offensive and belittling towards men, she directs these words towards the women at the Women’s Suffrage Convention as a way to establish intimacy with her audience. She is also using, what seems to be, surprising and blunt words to generate attention from America, making more people listen to her argument. Thus, Stanton was able to use her word choice to persuade her audience that women’s enfranchisement would make a positive contribution to the harmful male society of the time.

Comparisons between man and womanhood assist in establishing Stanton’s argument of having an improved and influential society through women’s suffrage. Throughout her speech, Stanton compares the two sexes and their characteristics as a means to demonstrate that men usually cause more harm than good to society. At the beginning of her speech, Stanton labels manhood as a “destructive force”. She later continues with these metaphors as she says that manhood established “slavery,” and “pain and persecutions” in America. By tying manhood and its negative effects together, Stanton demonstrates the damage manhood has completed in society. In addition, since the speech was made after the Civil War, Stanton uses specific words that channel the negative emotions and experiences the audience had during the war, casting men in a negative light. However, she offsets destruction by symbolizing women as mercy and says that while men were wreaking havoc in society: “mercy has veiled her face and all hearts have been dead alike to love and hope.” Stanton elicits positive images of women to listeners as she uses feminine pronouns when describing “mercy,” to represent womanhood. Stanton also says that without mercy “all hearts have been dead alike to love and hope.” She is trying to demonstrate that women are the only ones who can stop the war and persecution as mercy is what counteracts these issues. Therefore, restricting women from participating in the government would only allow the negative effects of man’s actions to continue. Finally, Stanton equates the effects of manhood to “discord, disorder, disease, and death” and contrasts it with the “health, strength, and prosperity” women’s enfranchisement would bring. By using juxtaposing adjectives like death and disease, to positive ones– health and strength– it emphasizes the strong divide between the actions of man and womanhood. This dramatic duality demonstrates that men harm society and helps the audience agree more with women’s suffrage. Stanton strategically compares characteristics of the male and female elements to sway her audience towards seeing her argument of the benefits of women’s rights in society. 

The intentional references to religion helped Stanton advance her argument by appealing to her audience’s beliefs and ideas of the time. She describes that women are currently being treated in a way that conflicts with “that higher law written by the finger of God on her own soul.” Stanton uses God in her speech to suggest that He did not create women to be inferior to men. Thus, Stanton is suggesting that the people who continue to deny women rights would be going against God’s wishes, or committing a sin. Continuing with this rhetoric, she garners more support for women’s suffrage as people would be seen as virtuous by following the “higher law” Stanton mentions. Moreover, she continues to appeal to religion as Stanton asserts that the country is in need of a “new evangel of womanhood.” By tying religion to womanhood, Stanton forces the audience to make the connection between the necessity of religion with the necessity of women's rights. Following Stanton’s statement, she says that the adoption of womanhood in society can help “ lift man up into the higher realms of thought and action.” By using words like “lift” and “higher realms,” it depicts women with angel and god-like features. These words demonstrate the idea that women are more powerful than the societal stereotype. It also shows that implementing women's rights can create a more sophisticated and successful society than it currently is. This depiction makes the audience want to invest in the possibility of womanhood and support women’s rights. Mentioning religion is especially effective as the Second Great Awakening, which revived and expanded Protestant beliefs, was occurring at the time of Stanton’s speech. Thus, her message would be much more appealing and absorbable for her audience. By using biblical imagery and language, Stanton is able to paint women in a positive, powerful light and demonstrates to the audience the advantages of women’s suffrage in society.

Considering the heavy opposition towards women’s rights in the 19th century, Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s speech was revolutionary and unprecedented for her time. She effectively establishes her argument for women’s rights, while also demonstrating her criticisms of society at the time. Although Stanton passed away before the ratification of the 19th amendment, her brave actions and resistance have made a clear impact on social equality today.