Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a leading figure in the early women’s rights movement and a staunch American abolitionist. Her Declaration of Rights and Sentiments, penned in powerfully persuasive language, became a revolutionary call to action for protecting women’s rights across all aspects of their lives. Stanton served as president of the National Woman Suffrage Association for 20 years and worked closely with Susan B. Anthony We’ll delve deeper into the life and work of this great woman on manhattanka.com.
Childhood and Young Adulthood
Born on November 12, 1815, in Johnstown, New York, Elizabeth was the daughter of a New York Supreme Court judge. From an early age, she displayed an intense desire to succeed in intellectual and other arenas dominated by men. She constantly read her father’s law books and aspired to attend college, only to discover that young women were barred from all institutions of higher education. Stanton eventually graduated from the Emma Willard’s Female Seminary in Troy in 1882. Later, through visits to the home of her cousin, reformer Gerrit Smith, she became captivated by the abolitionist and women’s rights movements.
In 1840, Elizabeth married reformer Henry Stanton. During their European honeymoon, she attended the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, where she met Lucretia Mott, a Quaker preacher and one of the earliest American advocates for women’s rights. Upon returning to the U.S., Henry and Elizabeth moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where she actively expanded her circle of new friends. Elizabeth and Henry had seven children during their marriage. She single-handedly raised the children and oversaw their education while her husband spent the majority of his time traveling on political matters.
The Women’s Rights Convention
In 1848, following another meeting with Lucretia Mott, the idea to organize a women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls was born. On July 19–20, 1848, approximately 300 attendees, including men, participated and discussed the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments. Stanton was the primary author of the majority of the document. Modeled after the Declaration of Independence, it listed grievances regarding the denial of women’s right to vote. Despite opposition from her husband and other family members, Elizabeth insisted that woman suffrage was crucial. Attendees at the convention also expressed doubt, until Frederick Douglass—a former slave, abolitionist, and civil rights advocate—spoke up in support of women’s enfranchisement. The Seneca Falls Convention is recognized as the first in history specifically dedicated to discussing women’s rights and became the model for future conventions. Stanton’s persistence in including the right to vote for women on the convention’s agenda brought national attention to the issue.
Local and national women’s rights conventions were organized regularly over the following decades, with Stanton and Mott becoming leading speakers at these events. However, unable to frequently leave her young children at home during the 1850s, Elizabeth communicated with other women who actively traveled and spoke out for women’s rights. She supported Susan Anthony and often wrote speeches for her, lending the women’s movement an elegance and rhetoric that Susan passionately delivered to large audiences across the nation. While not a speaker in the 1850s, Elizabeth actively advocated for a broad range of social reforms, including temperance, improved property laws for married women, dress reform, and divorce laws.
New York Tour, Campaigning, and Organizations
In January 1861, Stanton joined Anthony and other speakers on a tour across New York State to deliver lectures on abolitionism. The tour began during the “Secession Winter,” and Stanton initially suggested that the Southern states should be allowed to leave. In this case, as in many others, Elizabeth changed her mind as events unfolded. By 1863, the Union’s war effort included freeing slaves, and so Stanton and Anthony organized the National Woman’s Loyal League to advocate for a U.S. Constitutional amendment abolishing slavery. This league was the first organization of its kind in America and gathered nearly 400,000 signatures in support of abolition. Throughout the league’s campaign, Stanton continually reminded the public that women could only petition, while men could vote. The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolished slavery and was ratified in 1865. Elizabeth was less active in supporting the 14th Amendment, as she was dissatisfied that it only recognized men as citizens. In January 1866, Stanton and other women’s rights advocates initiated a petition to add an amendment granting women the right to vote to the constitution. Many abolitionists opposed the concept of universal suffrage and urged women to fight for their right to vote only after the 14th Amendment. Stanton ignored this advice and went further, declaring her independent candidacy for Congress in October 1866.
In 1868, Stanton and Anthony began working on the weekly newspaper The Revolution, which was dedicated to the fight for women’s rights. Then, in 1868, Elizabeth co-founded and headed the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA). The organization later merged with another suffrage group to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Stanton was again appointed president of the new organization for two years.
The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited voter disenfranchisement based on race, divided the women’s rights movement. Stanton opposed the amendment and wrote articles using harsh language, which prompted Frederick Douglass to speak out against her. By 1869, Stanton officially called on Congress to adopt the 16th Amendment, guaranteeing women’s suffrage, using the women-edited newspaper The Revolution for this purpose.
For most of the 1870s, Stanton traveled across the United States, lecturing as part of the Lyceum movement. During these lectures, she spoke about women’s rights, girls’ education, marriage and divorce, and women mentioned in the Bible. Stanton achieved financial success through her lectures, supplementing the family income at a time when her children were preparing to enter colleges in the U.S. and Europe. Politically, thanks to Elizabeth’s efforts, Senator Aaron Sargent introduced a woman suffrage amendment to Congress, but it took more than 40 years before that amendment was passed.
Later Years and Legacy
In 1880, Stanton attempted to vote but was prevented from casting her ballot. Over the remainder of the decade, she traveled across Europe, giving speeches and sending reports back to U.S. newspapers. She laid the groundwork for the International Council of Women, which was formed in 1887. In 1890, Elizabeth became president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, thanks to her friend Anthony. However, she only served in this capacity for two years and declined re-election. Stanton also actively worked on the first three volumes of the History of Woman Suffrage (1881–1886). Additionally, she addressed the role of religion in the fight for equal rights for women, arguing that the Bible and organized religion played a significant part in denying women their full rights. Alongside her daughter, Harriet Stanton, she published the critical work, The Woman’s Bible, which was released in two volumes. The first volume appeared in 1895, and the second in 1898.
Elizabeth Stanton passed away in New York on October 26, 1902. Seventeen years after her death, in 1919, Congress adopted the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting women the right to vote. Stanton’s pivotal role in the suffrage movement has been recognized and celebrated, with several organizations fighting for women’s rights named in her honor.