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The following excerpt is from a speech delivered in 1873 by
Susan B. Anthony, a leader in the women's rights movement of the
19th century.
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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. It shall be my work this evening to prove to you that
in thus voting, I not only committed no crime, but, instead,
simply exercised my citizen's rights, guaranteed to me and
all United States citizens by the National Constitution,
beyond the power of any State to deny.
The preamble of the Federal Constitution says:
"We, the people of the United States, in order to form a
more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic
tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the
general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to
ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America."
It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens;
nor yet we, the male citizens; but we the whole people, who
formed the Union. And we formed it, not to give the blessings
of liberty, but to secure them; not to the half of ourselves
and the half of our posterity, but to the whole people—women
as well as men. And it is a downright mockery to talk to
women of their enjoyment of the blessings of liberty while
they aredenied the use of the only means of securing them
provided by this democratic republican government—the
ballot.
For any State to make sex a qualification that must ever
result in the disfranchisement of one entire half of the
people is a violation of the supreme law of the land. By it
the blessings of liberty are forever withheld from women and
their female posterity. To them this government had no just
powers derived from the consent of the governed. To them this
government is not a democracy. It is not a republic. It is an
odious aristocracy; a hateful oligarchy of sex; this
oligarchy of oligarchs over the mother and sisters, the wife
and daughters of every household—which ordains all men
sovereigns, all women subjects, carries dissension, discord
and rebellion into every home of the nation.
Webster, Worcester and Bouvier all define a citizen to be
a person in the United States, entitled to vote and hold
office. The one question left to be settled now is: Are women
persons? And I hardly believe any of our opponents will have
the hardihood to say they are not. Being persons, then, women
are citizens, and no State has a right to make any law, or to
enforce any old law, that shall abridge their privileges or
immunities. Hence, every discrimination against women in the
constitutions and laws of the several States is today null
and void, precisely as is every one against Negroes.
1. In the first paragraph, Anthony states that her action in
voting was
A. illegal, but morally justified
B. the result of her keen interest in national politics
C. legal, if the Constitution is interpreted correctly
D. an illustration of the need for a women's rights
movement
E. illegal, but worthy of leniency
2. By saying "We, the people... the whole people, who formed
the Union," Anthony means that
A. the founders of the nation conspired to deprive women of
their rights
B. some male citizens are still being denied basic rights
C. the role of women in the founding of the nation is generally
ignored
D. society is endangered when women are deprived of basic
rights
E. all people deserve to enjoy the rights guaranteed by the
Constitution
3. In the fifth paragraph, Anthony's argument rests mainly on
the strategy of convincing her audience that
A. any state that denies women the vote undermines its status
as a democracy
B. women deprived of the vote will eventually raise a
rebellion
C. the nation will remain an aristocracy if the status of women
does not change
D. women's rights issues should be debated in every home
E. even an aristocracy cannot survive without the consent of the
governed
4. The word hardihood could best be replaced by
A. endurance
B. vitality
C. nerve
D. opportunity
E. stupidity
5. When Anthony warns that "no State...shall abridge their
privileges", she means that
A. women should be allowed to live a life of privilege
B. women on trial cannot be forced to give up their
immunity
C. every state should repeal its outdated laws
D. governments may not deprive citizens of their rights
E. the rights granted to women must be decided by the people, not
the state
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