Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her daughter, Harriot--from a daguerreotype 1856.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) was an American women's rights activist who, along with Susan B. Anthony formed the National Women Suffrage Association in 1869.^[1] She died before she could achieve her goal of seeing women get the right to vote. As with most leaders of the early women's rights movement, she was a staunch anti-abortionist as she wrote in her bi-weekly periodical.^[2]

Early Activism[edit]

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was, along with her husband Henry Brewster Stanton, an activist in the abolitionist movement, as well as the temperance movement. In 1840 Stanton met Lucretia Mott at the International Anti-Slavery Convention in London England. Mott had been sent to the convention as an official delegate from her abolitionist society. The male delegates to the convention voted to bar women from participating in the official proceedings. All the women in attendance were forced to sit in the balcony. They were joined by a few men who disagreed with the majority's decision. Eight years later the two women would meet once again in Seneca Falls, New York. Together, they planned and held the first women's rights convention. The convention was attended by about three hundred women and forty men and took place in a Wesleyan Church. There were many notable figures in attendance, including, Fredrick Douglass. For the convention Stanton prepared the Declaration of Sentiments which, among other demands, called for women's suffrage. At the time women's suffrage was a controversial topic, even among women. Suffrage was the only demand to not receive a unanimous yes from the convention.

Stanton Meets Anthony[edit]

In 1851 Stanton meet Susan B. Anthony and their lifetime friendship began. Anthony, unlike Stanton was not married and had no children. For much of their early friendship Anthony was on the road making speeches, meeting people, and garnering support. Stanton worked from home writing speeches, articles and working on their own newspaper.

NWSA, AWSA & the Creation of NAWSA[edit]

In 1869 the American Equal Rights association split up over the fifteenth amendment. Stanton and Anthony created the National Women's Suffrage Association (NWSA). Stanton and Anthony, along with their followers, refused to back the fifteenth amendment unless it included women's suffrage. NWSA was devoted to a federal constitutional amendment to secure women's suffrage. Lucy Stone, among others, split to create the American Women's Suffrage Association (AWSA). Stone believed that this period in time was for the newly freed slaves and that women would soon have there day. AWSA was devoted to a state by state campaign for women's suffrage. In 1890, NWSA and AWSA merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association. It's leaders included Anthony and Stanton as well as Carrie Chapman Catt.

Despite being pro-life, a trait that would become very uncommon with feminists as time progressed, Stanton nonetheless bore some liberal similarities with modern feminists, particularly with religion. For instance, she said, "The Bible and the Church have been the greatest stumbling blocks in the way of women's emancipation."^[3] when releasing the The Woman's Bible, which challenged the King James Version of the Bible. She also described her experience growing up as a Christian as "suffocating and terrifying" and even opposed the tax-exempt status of churches during her time.^[4] This would end her influence over the suffrage movement and NAWSA.

External links[edit]

• http://www.nps.gov/archive/wori/ecs.htm
• http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blstanton.htm
• http://www.history.rochester.edu/class/suffrage/stanton.html

References[edit]

1. ↑ http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/aa/stanton
2. ↑ The Revolution, I, No. 5; February 5, 1868
3. ↑ https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/elizabeth_cady_stanton_155802
4. ↑ https://christianhegemony.org/elizabeth-cady-stanton