Elizabeth Cady Argumentative Essay

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, leader in the woman’s rights movement, was born on November 12, 1815 in Johnstown, New York. She is the daughter of Daniel and Mary Cady and married her husband Henry Stanton in May 1, 1840. Elizabeth Stanton and her husband had seven children. When she was 15 in 1830, being a woman, you were not allowed to do many things like attend men’s colleges, pursue certain occupations, were denied the right to vote, and to hold public office. According to Andrea Cooper, “Once you marry, your wages become your husband’s. You can’t own or inherit property. If you divorce, your spouse receives custody of the children. You can’t sign a contract or serve on a jury. And you can’t vote to change the laws that restrict you.” Because women back then were deemed delicate, passive, and irrational for the “heartless world”, they were expected to be the stay-at-home wife, provide love and attention to their families, and be submissive and obedient to their husbands.

Among them was Elizabeth Cady Stanton. What Elizabeth Stanton and a few of her friends wanted to do was to “organize a women’s rights convention, which, they declared in an announcement in the local newspaper, would be devoted to the question of, “the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of women.” That convention became known as the Seneca Falls Convention, and it set into motion the organized American women’s rights movement”(Sigerman, pg.8). A few days before the Seneca Falls Convention, one of the organizers did not think many people would attend. On the first day, she was proven wrong when 300 people showed up and at the same time, 68 women and 32 men -100 out of the 300 whom attended signed the Declaration of