Elizabeth Cady Stanton's 1854 "Address to the Legislature of New York" and the Paradox of Social Reform Rhetoric Page: 18
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Cady Stanton and the Paradox of Social Reform 18
Conclusions for Social Reform Rhetoric
The sameness/difference paradox of social reformers is perhaps nowhere more apparent
than in the first wave feminist movement, and Cady Stanton's "Address" demonstrates well the
limits she faced in addressing a hostile audience. Indeed, Cady Stanton's "Address"
demonstrates the limitations on all reformers who appeal to the dominant classes for respite. On
the one hand, women's rights reformers worked to convince male legislators that women were
unprotected by existing laws because of the fundamental differences between the sexes. On the
other hand, reformers had to argue that women, like legislators, were sufficiently invested in a
collective national (white, Christian) identity that equal rights would enable them to support the
status quo. The ways Cady Stanton negotiated the conundrum of sameness and difference have
important implications for the rhetorical situations of reformers throughout American history
because they call into question the possibility of achieving equality within the existing hierarchy.
Cady Stanton's "Address" contains much evidence of the friction between her obvious
intention, to secure rights for all women; and her subjection, a woman with little recourse for
establishing common concerns with men on the basis of gender alone. She was forced, again and
again, to seek common ground with the legislators in ways that shifted their attention away from
their fundamental opposition to her message on the basis of proper spheres for men and women.
The depth of her legal and philosophical knowledge, the forcefulness of her delivery, and the
intensity of her emotional examples certainly helped impress upon her audience the depth of her
knowledge and conviction, but she nevertheless constructed a speech permeated with appeals
that reinforced the hierarchy Cady Stanton was trying to reform. That Cady Stanton's appearance
before the legislature opened spaces for women to address other governing bodies in ensuing
years indicates her success in convincing her audience that women's rights advocates shared
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Skinnell, Ryan. Elizabeth Cady Stanton's 1854 "Address to the Legislature of New York" and the Paradox of Social Reform Rhetoric, article, 2010; [New York, New York]. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc146585/m1/18/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT College of Arts and Sciences.