Question

Question 6.

Read the following excerpt from a speech by Susan B. Anthony before you choose your answer.

(1) 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. (2) 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.

(3) The preamble of the Federal Constitution says:

(4) "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."

(5) 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. (6) 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. (7) And it is a downright mockery to talk to women of their enjoyment of the blessings of liberty while they are denied the use of the only means of securing them provided by this democratic-republican government—the ballot.

Which sentence can best be described as the speaker's thesis?

A.)Sentence 1
B.) Sentence 2
C.)Sentence 4
D.)Sentence 6

Answer 1

Answer: B.) sentence 2

Step-by-step explanation:

The best sentence that can be described as the speaker's thesis is sentence 2, "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." This sentence lays out the speaker's main argument, which is that she has a right to vote as a citizen of the United States and that the state does not have the power to deny her this right. This thesis is then developed throughout the rest of the speech, with the speaker citing the preamble of the Constitution and pointing out that women, as well as men, are included in "we, the people" who formed the Union.