Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady was born on the 12th of November 1815 into a prominent family in Johnstown, New York. Her father Daniel Cady stood as one of the richest landowners in the state and served as a justice in the New York Supreme Court. The family mansion employed up to twelve servants to manage daily life. Elizabeth was the seventh child out of eleven siblings born to her parents. Six children died before reaching full adulthood including all the boys in the family. This early loss shaped her worldview and left her mother withdrawn and depressed from years of grief.
Her brother Eleazar died at age twenty just after graduating from Union College in Schenectady. The ten-year-old Stanton tried to comfort her grieving father by promising to be everything he wished she could have been. He replied with words that would haunt her for decades saying Oh my daughter I wish you were a boy. This moment crystallized the legal and social barriers facing women in mid-nineteenth century America. She studied law books with her father and debated his clerks at dinner tables despite being barred from college enrollment. No institution accepted female students during her youth yet she mastered mathematics and languages at Johnstown Academy.
Lucretia Mott traveled from Pennsylvania to attend a Quaker meeting near the Stantons home in the summer of 1848. Stanton poured out her long-accumulating discontent with such vehemence that she stirred herself and others to action. They agreed to organize a convention in Seneca Falls within days while Mott remained in the area. Three hundred women and men attended the two-day gathering that became known as the first convention called solely for discussing women's rights.
Stanton authored the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments modeled on the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Her document included a list of grievances covering wrongful denial of women's right to vote. This demand generated controversy among attendees but quickly became central to the movement. Frederick Douglass gave strong support allowing the ninth resolution to pass after vigorous debate. The resolution stated it was the duty of women to secure their sacred right to the elective franchise. Articles appeared in newspapers across New York City Philadelphia and other places spreading news of the event. By 1851 the demand for voting rights had become a core tenet of the United States women's rights movement.
Susan B Anthony visited Seneca Falls in 1851 where Amelia Bloomer introduced her to Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Anthony came from a Quaker family active in reform movements while Stanton possessed legal training and intellectual depth. Their complementary skills defined decades of collaboration with Anthony excelling at organization and Stanton mastering writing. Anthony deferred to Stanton in organizational matters refusing any office placing her above Stanton. They referred to each other as Susan and Mrs. Stanton in personal correspondence throughout their partnership.
Anthony supervised Stanton's seven children so she could write speeches for public delivery. One biographer noted Susan became almost another mother to Mrs. Stanton's children. Stanton forged thunderbolts while Anthony fired them according to her own description of their work dynamic. Over her lifetime Stanton spent more time with Anthony than with any adult including her husband Henry. In 1865 they submitted the first women's suffrage petition directed to Congress during drafting of the Fourteenth Amendment. Her candidacy as the first woman to run for Congress in October 1866 secured only twenty-four votes yet sparked national conversations about women holding office.
Stanton and Anthony opposed the Fifteenth Amendment which would prohibit denial of suffrage based on race alone. They insisted all women and all African Americans should be enfranchised simultaneously rather than allowing black male suffrage first. During debates over this amendment Stanton wrote articles using elitist and racially condescending language. She stated American women of wealth education virtue and refinement must not let lower orders make laws for their daughters. The term Sambo appeared in her writings drawing rebuke from Frederick Douglass who called it ungenerous to withhold black men's rights until women gained theirs.
Sojourner Truth supported Stanton arguing colored men becoming masters over women would replicate previous oppression. Wendell Phillips blocked funding for AERA campaigns in Kansas opposing mixing racial and gender causes. George Francis Train provided controversial financial support while openly disparating African American intelligence. Stanton declared she would accept help from the devil himself if he supported women's suffrage. The American Equal Rights Association dissolved after an acrimonious meeting in May 1869 creating two competing organizations. Old friends became enemies like Lucy Stone or wary associates as with Frederick Douglass following the split.
Anthony and Stanton began publishing a sixteen-page weekly newspaper called The Revolution in New York City during 1868. Parker Pillsbury served as co-editor alongside Anthony who managed business aspects while Stanton focused on content. Initial funding came from George Francis Train who sailed for England shortly after publication began. His financial support disappeared entirely leaving debts that forced transfer of the paper to another activist after twenty-nine months.
Stanton refused responsibility for the ten thousand dollar debt accumulating from the venture citing children needing support. Anthony repaid the debt over six years through paid speaking tours despite having less money than Stanton. The newspaper covered politics labor movements finance and women's rights under the motto Men their rights and nothing more women their rights and nothing less. Harriet Beecher Stowe and Isabella Beecher Hooker offered funding if renamed but Stanton declined strongly favoring existing title. Despite its short lifespan The Revolution gave Stanton and Anthony means to express views during movement splits promoting their wing of activism.
Her divorce reform speeches drew audiences up to twelve hundred people making them among most popular lectures delivered. In 1890 essay Divorce versus Domestic Warfare she opposed stricter laws arguing rising divorces proved woman transitioning from slavery to freedom. Religious conservatives attacked her calls for drunkenness serving legal grounds for divorce at a time when many opposed all divorces. She urged wives of drunkard husbands take control marital relations stating no woman remain with confirmed drunkard father of children. This stance antagonized religious establishment calling for money donated to poor instead theological aristocracy building temples unknown God.
Anthony moved into Stanton house in New Jersey in 1876 bringing trunks boxes letters newspaper clippings documents for History of Woman Suffrage project. Originally envisioned modest publication evolved into six volumes exceeding five thousand seven hundred pages written over forty-one years. Stanton wrote most first three volumes while Matilda Joslyn Gage contributed chapters before illness forced abandonment. Anthony published fourth volume after Stanton death completing work with Ida Husted Harper who finished
final two volumes reaching 1920.
Stanton's daughter Harriot Stanton Blatch insisted history include rival Lucy Stone and American Woman Suffrage Association despite refusal to cooperate. Her own chapter on Stone appeared in Volume Two ensuring broader historical record though main source remained biased toward Stanton Anthony wing. The work preserved enormous material potentially lost forever yet overstated role leaders while understating others like Stone. Historians later uncovered additional sources providing balanced view missing from original narrative. Stanton died the 26th of October 1902 leaving behind decades of activism documented through these massive efforts shaping modern feminist movements.
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Common questions
When was Elizabeth Cady Stanton born and where did she grow up?
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was born on the 12th of November 1815 in Johnstown, New York. She grew up in a prominent family mansion that employed up to twelve servants.
What happened at the Seneca Falls Convention organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1848?
Three hundred women and men attended the two-day gathering known as the first convention called solely for discussing women's rights. Stanton authored the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments which included a demand for women's right to vote.
How long did Susan B Anthony work with Elizabeth Cady Stanton before her death?
Susan B Anthony visited Seneca Falls in 1851 where they began their collaboration that lasted until Stanton died on the 26th of October 1902. They spent more time together than either did with any other adult including their respective husbands.
Why did Elizabeth Cady Stanton oppose the Fifteenth Amendment during the 1860s?
Stanton opposed the Fifteenth Amendment because it would prohibit denial of suffrage based on race alone without granting voting rights to all women simultaneously. She insisted that all women and all African Americans should be enfranchised together rather than allowing black male suffrage first.
What was the purpose and lifespan of The Revolution newspaper published by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B Anthony?
The Revolution was a sixteen-page weekly newspaper published from 1868 to 1870 under the motto Men their rights and nothing more women their rights and nothing less. It covered politics labor movements finance and women's rights but ceased publication after twenty-nine months due to financial debts.