This inquiry-based seminar examines enduring questions of argumentation and rhetoric in the history of U.S. women’s rights advocacy, with particular attention to questions of race and class. Topics include separate spheres ideology, the early suffrage and abolitionist movements, women’s initial entry into higher education, protective labor legislation, abortion access, and regulation of sexual violence. The course draws on primary source materials and culminates in a critical essay evaluating argumentation and rhetoric in key documents in the history of U.S. women’s rights advocacy.