Rhetorical Analysis Of The Declaration Of Sentiments

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The Declaration of Sentiments The Declaration of Sentiments was signed in 1868 at the first women’s rights convention. Elizabeth Stanton made the speech that the convention revolved around. This speech set up accusations and purposed a change in society that would allow women to have the same rights as men did. In her speech, Stanton uses a variety of rhetorical strategies to convey her opinion on women’s rights. In the Declaration of Sentiments, Stanton lays out a number of issues and grievances to her audience. The speech demanded that women be given the same respect in society as men at the time. “Such has been the patient sufferance of the women under this government, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to demand…show more content…
The two documents are formatted into three major parts; the first part is a general overview and introduction, the second is a detailed list of accusations against the given wrong doer, and the final is a conclusion. In the first section of the Declaration of Sentiments, Stanton tries to simply gain the support of the audience before she lays out accusations. Thomas Jefferson’s second section of the Declaration listed out grievances that he had with the King of England. In the Declaration of Sentiments, Stanton mirrors this style but her accusations are directed towards men in general. The last section of the speech echo’s Stanton’s determination to change the normality’s at the time. I think that Stanton used the Declaration of Independence to connect women to the rest of the American population. At the time women were denied a majority of the rights that men white men were handed and in turn men and women were not connected. These similarities highlight the fact that women are American citizens just as men are. “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men and women are created equal,” (Stanton). This quote, from the Declaration of Sentiments, is almost a direct quote from the Declaration of Independence, except for the fact that the word ‘women’ was added. The addition of ‘women’ emphasizes the equality of women to men and…show more content…
One of the words that she repeats throughout the second part of the speech is ‘he’. Since the document was meant to be a speech, repetition allows for inflection in her voice. Inflection is the natural rising and falling of the voice throughout a sentence. Natural inflection using involves a louder higher start of the sentence and then gradually becomes softer. Saying the same word would add emphasis and help the speech to flow. Another word that she used quite often was ‘we’. When Stanton says ‘we’ she is referring to women as a whole. She uses this word in attempt to unite all the women under one cause. Women would not have felt empowered at the time because society was male driven. Stanton used the word ‘we’ to unite women because the only way that women were going to make a difference was if they could come together and become a force. Women would not feel comfortable in coming together against men because of how little power they had in society. There was always the fear of the negative that could occur if men overpowered the

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