Florence Kelley's Abolitionist Reform

At the end of Andrew Jackson’s presidency in 1837, an enormous stream of reform movements began soaking the American soil. Some of the most notable reforms were the abolitionist reform, the women’s suffrage reform, the education reform, and the child labor reform. These movements grew loud together, intertwining their shouts for justice and change. One of these reforms, however, began to eclipse the others: the abolitionist reform. The issue of whether or not slavery should be abolished turned even bloodier in 1861 when the American Civil War broke out. After the Union proved victorious four years later, the other reform movements were invigorated with hope and determination. If the abolitionists could succeed, what was stopping the rest of them? Figures such as Florence Kelley emerged, who advocated for several reforms. In her speech to the American Woman Suffrage Association, Kelley employs multiple rhetorical strategies to carve her argument regarding the reform of the child labor system. Kelley begins by spitting statistics concerning the six through sixteen year old children who are under the differing-by-state child labor systems. She speaks of the increase in the employment of young girls, immediately showcasing to her audience how

She does so subtly, only mentioning that the children are “robbed of school life that they may work for us,” and that the audience must make amends “for the sake of...the Republic in which these children will vote after we are dead.” When Kelley talks about how New Jersey repealed the good law that put a limit on the amount of hours women and children worked, she informs her audience that they’ve come far and what has been changed cannot be lost now. If the kids are at work, they’re not in school, meaning the country will continue to slide backwards from progress if the child labor system is not