Final answer:
Opponents of women's suffrage during the 19th century argued against it based on notions of women's physical and mental frailty, domestic roles, and the legal doctrine of coverture. They also made personal attacks on suffragist women, questioning their femininity and moral purity.
Step-by-step explanation:
The opponents of women's suffrage during the antebellum and early suffragist periods had a host of arguments against granting women the right to vote. Underpinning many arguments was the notion that women lacked the discretion necessary for voting due to their supposed physical and mental fragility, as well as their domestic responsibilities, as mentioned in the Essex Result. This document, likely authored by Theophilus Parsons, reflected the broader societal belief in the doctrine of coverture, which essentially made married women 'civilly dead' in legal terms, preventing them from owning property or paying taxes independently from their husbands.
Another argument posited that women were too frail and delicate to partake in the 'hurly-burly of life', and that engaging in public affairs might compromise their maternal roles and duties. Moreover, personal attacks were commonly leveraged against the women advocating for suffrage, labeling them as unfeminine and questioning their roles as nurturing mothers. Notably, this was a period when the notion of true womanhood was challenged by the growing activism around women's rights, focusing on women's equal entitlement to life, liberty, property, and happiness.