Summary Of Speech By Florence Kelley

Florence Kelley delivered a speech fighting for tighter child labor laws. She spoke out against the harsh conditions children were required to work in. Kelley’s purpose of the speech was to influence a major change in the labor regulations. She conveyed her message by using repetition, diction and factual evidence. As a reformer, Kelley fought for equality for all people in the workforce. She constantly focused on female children. This was because females debated most for equal rights. During this time, women and children were exposed to hard working conditions from an early age. She depicted a particular girl not being able to live like the “happier people,” who didn’t work twelve hours a night. Kelley also argued that a child’s education

By doing this, she gave her audience the idea that she really knows what she is talking about. In order for her argument to be taken seriously, Kelley showed the contrast on the effects of children in different states. She specified that Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Pennsylvania set little to no limit on labor hours. Kelley mainly focused on southern states. Yet, she came to a conclusion that the “enlightened” states (Line 7) were becoming more like the South. Even though they were considered progressive and advanced, they still had a major setback. She found out that Alabama had arranged better working limitations than in New Jersey. Kelley believed that New Jersey took a “long backwards step” (Line 40). The state had done this by repealing a limit to labor

Every word she chose to describe the labor conditions portrayed her attitude. Kelley’s true feelings of aversion against the unjust laws were shown. In the introduction of her speech, she used the word “we” (Line 1). Instead of saying “this country” or “the U.S.” or “you,” she made it more personal. This connected herself to the audience. She does this several other times. Kelley consecutively used the word “us” (Lines 65-75). This let her audience know that it is happening in their society, and it is affecting them. Thus, she informs them that they could produce a major change in the nation. It also made the audience feel pity for all the hard work children did to craft suitable clothes for the adults. Another use of diction was in lines 2 and 3, where Kelley implied that the children are “earning their bread.” This demonstrated that the money they made influenced whether or not they would have food on their plate. Rather than saying “earning money,” Kelley stated that the only true purpose of their hard work was to provide them with