Elizabeth Stanton

Elizabeth Stanton
Julia Ward Howe
Paulina K. Davis
Digital Bibliography
Chronology

The social awakening of Elizabeth Cady started at an early age. Born in New York in 1815, there is a story that as a child she read her father's law books and, with scissors, tried to cut out unjust laws. While a teenager Elizabeth befriended Lydia Child. Lydia was locally known for the 1824 novel Hobonok. Child's book extolled the need for racial and religious tolerance. Child was an activist against slavery. In 1833, Child published An Appeal of that Class of Americans Called Africans.

This is considered to be the first anti-slavery tract by an American woman. This affected Elizabeth to the point that she too became interested in the abolition of slavery and, as an advocate of freedom and liberty for one class of oppressed people she continued the concept for women as well.

The most obvious indication of Elizabeth Cady's ambition for women's equality was when she met and married Henry Stanton in 1840. Elizabeth demanded the word 'obey' be removed from the wedding vows. Henry supported Elizabeth's ambitions for equality and the abolition of slavery and together they traveled to the World Anti-Slavery Convention. Despite the words Elizabeth had edited, others tended not to agree. Women were not allowed to present ideas or speak publicly at the convention.

Another rejected speaker was Lucretia Mott. The two women formed a friendship and a shared advocacy that grew stronger over time. In 1848 Elizabeth and Lucretia organized a woman's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York. Elizabeth authored the Declaration of Sentiment, using the Declaration of Independence as a model. In the declaration Elizabeth wrote that women...' have the right to be free as man is free.' Elizabeth went on to say...'the world has never yet seen a truly great and virtuous nation, because in the degradation of woman the very fountains of life are poisoned at their source.' Elizabeth also called for, in 1848, the right of women to vote.

Elizabeth and Henry had seven children and her responsibilities as a mother often prohibited her from extended travel. In 1851 Elizabeth met and befriended Susan B. Anthony. Susan was known for her temperance activities but was frustrated at the restrictions placed on women in the movement. Susan spoke out, several times, on the inequality of women. Elizabeth and Susan became close friends and a convenient arrangement soon developed. Elizabeth, with seven children, stayed home but wrote strong rhetoric while Susan utilized her charisma and ability to travel to express the opinions of the newly formed women's suffrage movement.

The Civil War caused a lapse in the activity of the Lyceum speakers but post war expansion and growth stimulated a renewed interest in social reform. Elizabeth ran for Congress in 1868. She got a total of 24 votes in her symbolic gesture of futility. With the growth of her children and the resurgence of what now to be known as the Chautauqua Circuit Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony delivered speeches on motherhood, marriage, family issues and the quest for women to have the right to vote. In 1869 they formed the National Woman Suffrage Association.

There were others raising their voices as well. Paulina Davis and Julia Ward Howe took different avenues to reach the same destination. Eventually the fragmented movement merged and in 1890 the National Woman Suffrage Movement and the American Woman Suffrage Association combined. The struggle for suffrage was united but the opposition continued until after the turn of the century. Elizabeth Cady Stanton died in 1902 without seeing the fulfillment of her dreams.