Rhetorical Analysis Of The Declaration Of Sentiments Of 1848

Rhetorical Analysis Of The Declaration Of Sentiments Of 1848
Introduction
For a long time, women were undervalued in the society. Male dominance meant that women would only exist to play the supportive role to the man. Married women were supposed to remain submissive and never participate in any critical decision making. Despite the fact that men knew that before God, everybody was equal, they never let women enjoy or exercise their rights in social, religious, and political domains. Women revolted, and many started championing for their rights. Areas of contention included the right to vote and to vie for elective posts. The year 1848 saw intense human rights activists and activities championing for gender equality in the American society. To make their points heard, such activists used various rhetorical values in their declarations. Elizabeth Cady Stanton who championed for the woman suffrage through the Declaration of Sentiments on July 4th, 1848 was able to use Ethos, Logos, and Pathos to allow the audience understand her assertions better.
Strategies Used By the Speaker to Win the Audience
Appeals to Ethos
The use of Ethos is the appeal to the moral values that the human beings in the society should understand to be core values of the social life. It calls upon the human ethical values that should allow the application of common sense and apathy in trying to understand what the person is going through. The use of ethos tries to question the moral of the behavior that the speaker disputes.

In her appeal to the social ethos, Elizabeth writes,
“We hold this truth to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal…, with some unalienable rights that among these are life and pursuit of happiness (Stanton 1).”
In the text, Elizabeth questions the moral and ethical consideration of women as less human beings who should not participate in voting yet God equally endows them. She claims that everybody has a right to life and search for happiness. If the happiness may be found through the choice of the right leaders, then why are women not allowed to choose the leaders they like who can give them happiness in their lives? Such an appeal is strong enough to challenge the men to reconsider their positions and let the women have the right to vote.
Appeals to Pathos
Pathos is the direct appeal to the listeners’ emotions. The use of Pathos aims to challenge the listener to be in the speakers’ shoes and get the feeling that the speaker is experiencing. It is a strong emotional tool that aims to elicit a change of heart on the listener to take the position and the sentiments of the speaker. In appealing to pathos, the speaker aims to create an impression based on the perceptions that the hard lines she is speaking about may create a feeling in discourse. In her appeal to the use of pathos, Elizabeth says,
“He has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to the elective franchise; he has impelled her to submit to the laws of which she had no voice (Stanton 1).”
In the appeal to pathos, Elizabeth wonders how heartless man can be to force the woman into accepting laws that do not conform to her needs.
The Use of Logos as Rhetorical Tool
The use of logos in the persuasive speeches is important in the development of a better understanding after the speaker appeals to the existing laws. Speakers can appeal to the constitutional provisions, social norms or religious beliefs that aim to correct the wrongs that might cause the point of conflict. Her appeal to God’s purpose in man and both man and woman as equal before God as a way of persuading the listeners to take both men and women as equal in matters concerning elections and voting is an example of a case where the speaker appeals to logos. Therefore, Elizabeth’s appeals to the natural laws that permit women to be equal to men in many respects especially at the beginning of the declaration
The Use of Loaded Language in Speech Persuasion
Elizabeth still believed that her use of the logos, ethos and pathos were still not convincing enough to persuade the American men, especially those who were in the political positions to change their mind and embrace women suffrage. The use of loaded language involves an appeal to the listeners’ through the repetitive and graphical presentation of information that can be used to illustrate further the divisive point that the speaker is trying to put across. Elizabeth says that man has used every means possible to ensure that the woman remains in the supportive role and under the submission of man. Since it would be difficult to enumerate all the means that man has put in place and find them to be exhaustive as Elizabeth says, it is best understood as a figure of speech that is meant to show the extent to which the course has been explored. This is an example of a loaded language that the speaker uses to show that there are not many options available, but people need to consider her position and change their focal point to that which can give credit to the women.
The Use of Illusion as A Way of Persuasion
Many people also have the need to be persuasive from alluding their message to some aspects that would be much greater than their control or understanding. The allusive language is supposed to project the concept that the speaker is putting across as something that is so unique and as serious as the one to which it alludes. For instance, alluding that man has taken the role of Jehovah to have the right over all other creations including the woman is a case to show that men have taken up roles that are beyond their levels. It shows that man should tone done and leave out taking up the responsibilities that should be left out to the deity, in which case, toning down would mean that man should be able to yield and give way for women suffrage.
Conclusion
The use of the figures of speech that are meant to underscore a person view is very important in winning over audiences. Normally, the rhetorical tools that many people commonly use in their figures of speech include logos, ethos, and pathos. These rhetorical tools are strong enough to convince those with divisive views on a topic to come round and change their hardline stances. In some cases, and especially where the speakers believe that the people supposed to change their stance will not be easy to convince, they can deploy more rhetorical tools like allusion and loaded language. This is the extent to which Elizabeth Stanton went in her declaration of sentiments. It is all in need to persuade the listeners to whom the desired message are not popular that the speakers get to use the rhetorical tools as a way of persuading them to change their positions and agree with the speaker.
Work Cited
BIBLIOGRAPHY l 1033 Stanton, Elizabeth Cady. Declaration of Sentiments. Report of the Women’s Rights Convention. New York: Seneca Falls Publishers, 1848. Print.