Florence Kelley Child Labor

817 Words2 Pages

In the past, child labor laws were very controversial. Children began working at a young age and performed the same tasks as adults. They would work in factories and mills, and certain jobs they performed caused many accidents which led to their deaths. Many social reformers tried to put an end to child labor and eventually succeeded. One of these reformers was Florence Kelley, who delivered a child labor speech before the National American Women Suffrage Association in Philadelphia, 1905. Before the National American Women Suffrage Association, women were not petitioning the right to vote, they were petitioning the need for child labor laws. Florence Kelley was really passionate about this issue. She was well articulated, which caused many …show more content…

She then proceeds to evoke pathos by stating that while the audience sleeps, little girls are making items through the deafening noises of the factories’ machines. Kelley then follows to judge the southern states for having “white girls” working on cotton mills for longer than eight hours. By emphasizing “white girls” she is comparing them to African Americans, and in her own words telling her audience “this could be your daughter.” Kelley compares the northern states to the southern states by stating that the northern states are more enlightened than the southern states by not making children work as much, but then proceeds in comparing New Jersey to the southern states, blaming them for influencing the state. She uses pathos to create a sense of innocence that only a child has and that should be preserved and not exploited in factories. “A girl of six or seven years, just tall enough to reach the bobbins, may work eleven hours by day or by night. And they do so tonight while we sleep.” Kelley uses this wording to evoke pathos and make her audience feel guilt. What this does is calls out their ethical values until they fix it. Meanwhile, the states that have child labor prohibited are praised by her. She says those states are in correct direction to the …show more content…

Kelley is a women and a social reformer, a social reformer fights to fix what the government overlooks. In her speech, she makes many ethical points, most which points out the belief that children are innocent and should not be treated as working adults. This makes her seem trustworthy because it shows she cares about the children, so it appeals to the parents listening to her speech. Kelley’s argument relies on the authority of the mothers listening and the approval of the working voter men. Kelley needs the voting men to vote on behalf of women since, during this time, women could not vote. She continues to shame her audience by claiming that they should sacrifice their luxuries for the sake of the children. She compares the children to “little beasts of burden”, a phrase from the bible that means donkey or slave, to further shame her audience. She claims that child labor is evil, but she doesn’t mention why the children take up those jobs. She doesn’t mention that the children who work are severely poor and are just trying to support their family. Kelley’s speech is a social argument. If something were to happen because of this speech, the children would be the ones who would greatly benefit. The factory owners would be the ones greatly impacted if something did happen. They would lose money and probably

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