I think I could write a pretty strong argument in favor of female suffrage, but I do not want to do it. I never want to see the women voting, and gabbling about politics, and electioneering. There is something revolting in the thought. It would shock me inexpressibly for an angel to come down from above and ask me to take a drink with him (though I should doubtless consent); but it would shock me still more to see one of our blessed earthly angels peddling election tickets among a mob of shabby scoundrels she never saw before.
– Letter to St. Louis Missouri Democrat, March 1867
Women, go your ways! Seek not to beguile us of our imperial privileges. Content yourself with your little feminine trifles — your babies, your benevolent societies and your knitting–and let your natural bosses do the voting. Stand back — you will be wanting to go to war next. We will let you teach school as much as you want to, and we will pay you half wages for it, too, but beware! we don’t want you to crowd us too much.
– Letter to St. Louis Missouri Democrat, March 1867
Both of the above quotations are from American writer, Mark Twain. Later, as the suffrage movement continued – Twain changed his attitude and began writing and speaking in favor of the 19th amendment. Consider the popular inferences made about all women during the late 19th and early 20th centuries:
- Women were naturally vain
- Women were innately incapable of reason and rational thought
- Women were “adult children” who needed guidance and protection
- Women were simply property of their fathers and husbands
- Women were created to be “angels in the house” – or passive moral compasses for naturally “bad” husbands
- Women were instinctively willing obedient servants to husbands who represented God head in the household
Often, women did (and still do) help to legitimize these “truths” with their behavior and writings. So, in many ways these inferences looked reliable to anti-suffragists. With your groups, think about the “number of different explanations” for these inferences made about the “nature” of female humans.
- How reliable are these inferences?
- What possible explanations might we find for female behavior and choices that helped perpetuate these “truths”?
Consider the following video:
- How did the inferences about women lead to judgments?
- What relationship can we find between cultural constructions, often inferences, and social and legal judgments?
- Use Sojourners Truth’s ‘Aint I a Woman to discuss how can rhetors change judgments by helping to present facts that question the reliability of inferences?
And finally, because you are awesome students – I leave you with this:
English 104 
