1. Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Seneca Falls Keynote Address

2. Why has Cady Stanton “met” with her audience?
What is the impact of pairing the words “rights and wrongs” together in the following phrase: “We have met here today to discuss our rights and wrongs”?
How does the phrase “and not, as some have supposed” refine Cady Stanton’s stated purpose in this paragraph?
How does Cady Stanton explain “social life”? How does this explanation advance her purpose?
What is the impact of Cady Stanton’s choice to use the word “[w]e” to begin each sentence in this paragraph? To whom does “we” refer?

3. What “points” will not “be touched in this convention”?
How does the phrase “however important they may be considered by leading men” relate to the purpose of Cady’s Stanton’s speech?
What do gentlemen need not “fear?”
How does the word “contempt” impact the tone of Cady Stanton’s discussion of clothing?
Who is the “nobler sex” to whom Cady Stanton refers?
How does Cady Stanton explain that “male attire is neither dignified nor imposing”?

4. What effect does Cady Stanton’s word choice have on the tone in this paragraph?
What is the effect of Cady Stanton’s use of rhetoric in the second sentence of paragraph 3?
Why does the “government” not have the “consent of the governed”?
How do the “disgraceful laws” that Cady Stanton describes demonstrate the relationship between women and men?
Why are the laws deemed “a shame and a disgrace to a Christian republic in the nineteenth century”? How does referencing a “Christian republic” support Stanton’s claim?
How does Cady Stanton imply that “unjust laws” will be “erased from our statute books”?

5. How has Cady Stanton previously developed the idea that “The right is ours”?
What does “full stature” mean in relation to Webster, given how Cady Stanton describes him in the previous paragraph? Based upon this understanding, what can you infer about the other men in this sentence?
What is the effect of listing the examples of “drunkards, idiots, horse racing, rum selling rowdies, ignorant foreigners, and silly boys”?
How does Cady Stanton’s word choice in the phrase beginning, “while we ourselves are thrust out from all the rights,” advance her purpose?
How does Cady Stanton’s use of rhetoric in paragraph 7 advance her purpose?
How does Cady Stanton further refine her purpose in the last sentence of paragraph 7?

6. How does Cady Stanton describe the situation in “our midst”?
What have philanthropists done?
What is the response of the “nation” to the sins “dragged naked before” them?
To what does “those monsters” refer?
How does Cady Stanton use imagery in the last sentence to further describe the “moral stagnation in our midst”?
How does Cady Stanton support her claim that “man cannot fulfill his destiny alone, he cannot redeem his race unaided”?

7. How does Cady Stanton use figurative language to describe women in paragraph 10?
In what way are “the very fountains of life” “poisoned”? What impact does this “poison[]” have on “the nation”?
How does the idea “the world has never yet seen a truly great and virtuous nation” relate to ideas developed in paragraph 9?
How does Cady Stanton use references to “silver and gold” and “copper and lead” in paragraph 9?
How does the idea of a “truly great and virtuous nation” in paragraph 10 interact or build upon ideas developed in paragraphs 8 and 9?
What does Cady Stanton mean when she describes women as “slaves”?

8. What is the effect on the nation if women are “slaves”?
How does Cady Stanton use figurative language in the third sentence of paragraph 11? How does her word choice advance her point of view?
How does Cady Stanton further develop ideas in paragraph 11 which were introduced in paragraph 10?
How does Cady Stanton support her claim about “wise mother[s]” in the last sentence?
How does Cady Stanton’s word choice in her description of “the wife” further develop an idea from paragraph 11?
To whom does “his” refer in the phrase “the foolish son is heaviness to his heart”?

9. What are the “sins of the fathers,” and whom do the sins impact?
What has God’s “wisdom” created and how does it further develop the “sins of the fathers”?
How does this allusion contribute to Cady Stanton’s point of view in paragraph 12?
How does the imagery in paragraph 12 interact with other ideas in paragraphs 11–12?
How does the phrase “so in her elevation the race shall be recreated” connect to previously developed ideas?
How does Cady Stanton’s use of the word “restoration” further develop her purpose?

10. Based on your research about Joan of Arc, what are the “voices” at the beginning of paragraph 13?
What is the impact of Cady Stanton’s use of quotation marks around “voices” in the first two sentences of paragraph 13?
Who is the “enemy” in paragraph 13?
What are the “keenest weapons of the enemy”? How does the adjective “keenest” impact Cady Stanton’s description of the weapons?
What metaphor does Cady Stanton use to explain what “the women of this country” must do? How does the metaphor contribute to the power of the text?
How does the content of paragraph 13 develop ideas introduced in paragraph 8?

11. How does Cady Stanton use religious references to advance her purpose?
How does the contrast between the descriptions of “popular applause” and “bigotry and prejudice” develop an idea in the text?
How does Cady Stanton use metaphor in paragraph 14 to develop a central idea?
How does Cady Stanton develop the idea that the opposition is entrenched behind “custom and authority” in previous paragraphs?
How does Cady Stanton’s use of figurative language in paragraph 14 contribute to the power, persuasiveness, or beauty of the text?
What is Cady Stanton’s purpose in paragraph 14?