Elizabeth Cady Stanton once said, “The history of the past is but one long struggle upward to equality” (“Elizabeth Cady Stanton Quotes” ). These certain words exposes what many people tend to ignore like slavery, race equality, and female equality. Throughout history, thousands of people fight to be treated the same to prove that there is nothing different about them, whether that is gender or race. Stanton, along with several others, took a stand and spoke publicly to put this problem to court. The most influential person in society was Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She was an activist for equality, she showed leadership characteristics, and she put her words on paper. Growing up in a loving home was not in Stanton’s forte. Daniel Cady, her father, …show more content…
First, Stanton developed the Women’s State Temperance Society in 1853. It came to her attention that drunkenness should be a valid reason for divorce. She tried petitioning the State Legislature to pass a law to limit liquor sales. Ultimately, the State rejected the petition; On the other hand, she managed to receive roughly 28,000 signatures (“Elizabeth Cady Stanton,” Britannica). She also founded the Women’s Loyal National League in 1863. This League was all about ending the Civil War and the emancipation of all slaves. Stanton gathered more than 300,000 signatures petitioning towards emancipation and was successful (“Elizabeth Cady Stanton,” Britannica). Later, she founded and was the first president of the National Woman's Suffrage Association. NWSA was formed in 1869, and was worked towards changing the Fifteenth Amendment to allowing women to vote as well (Foner and Garraty). Overall, Stanton enjoyed stirring up publicly and being radical. “She was the first woman in the United States to declare herself a candidate for Congress, even when she couldn’t vote” (Cooper). Elizabeth Cady Stanton wanted to set an example for women to aspire to be, and it changed the …show more content…
She was an author of several documents and contributed to many letters/pamphlets. One of the most well-known documents she helped write was the Declaration of Sentiments. This modeled the Declaration of Independence, but it was in favor of women’s rights as well. This called for “extensive reforms, which effectively launched the Women’s Rights Movement” (“Elizabeth Cady Stanton,” Britannica). Also, when Stanton began the National Woman's Suffrage Association, it introduced a newspaper called “The Revolution”. This was a militant feminist magazine. “The Revolution” encouraged many women across the country to fight for equal rights, alongside Stanton (“Stanton, Elizabeth Cady”). After her traveling days, Mrs. Cady Stanton began to focus on her writing. Eventually she wrote three volumes of the “History of Women Suffrage”, which was one of her greatest legacies (“Stanton, Elizabeth Cady”). Her famous documented work, went into detail about how women were not treated equally, why they should be, and how women have began fighting towards equality. Overall, her written works have impacted society in several different
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, born in 1815, was known for her dedicated role as a women’s rights activist. At the peak of her career, she teamed up with Susan B. Anthony and formed the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and also eventually brought about the passage of the 19th amendment, giving all American citizens the right to vote. But before all that, Stanton started out as an abolitionist, spending her time focused on abolishing slavery but then later becoming more interested in women’s suffrage. One of her most famous moments was
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was one of the most renowned women to lead campaigns for women’s rights. Her efforts were focused on "opportunities for women, for married women’s property rights, the right to divorce, and the right to custody of children; her most radical demand was for women’s right to vote" (Davidson and Wagner-Martin 845). In general Stanton wished to instill independence and self-reliance in all women. Stanton was an inspiring orator of speeches including the Declaration of Sentiments as well as the book The Women’s Bible. Upon analysis of her speeches and other works, as well as gaining knowledge of her background, one is able to assume that personal experience strongly affected her writing, which illustrates her writing as representative in that it addressed inequality based on the issue of gender. Another factor that influenced her writing was the way in which she interpreted the great works, the Declaration of Independence and the Holy Bible. Noticing the obvious discrimination and guidelines set for women, Elizabeth Cady Stanton composed a new "women friendly" version of each that she called the Declaration of Sentiments and The Women’s Bible.
America is well known for many things, and one of the main qualities is the idea and practice of freedom and liberty. When thinking of the United States, one would probably say “Land of the free, Home of the brave.” America is a place where citizens have rights, can have happiness, and are free to live the life they choose. Although America is so free now, have citizens always had the rights that they have today? The founding fathers of the United States of America made the way to freedom when the Declaration of Independence was written, but even though it was written down, not all citizens had freedom. When Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote The Declaration of Sentiments, she used The Declaration of Independence as a guide. Freedom was still freedom, of course, but Stanton used it for a purpose that was different from how the founding fathers used it. When Stanton wrote the Declaration of Sentiments, she not only included the way Americans believe in freedom and liberty, she also included the way the beliefs can change and be interpreted in different ways.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s speeches and influences throughout her years have helped others. She wanted the government to stop using male pronouns unless they were specifically talking about a man. Elizabeth Cady Stanton also wanted women to be as equal as men. Elizabeth influenced political ideas to give women rights, and would give speeches which would influence others.
For many years people fought and struggled for change to make the world a better place. People struggle for change to feel equal by actively fighting for human rights, they urge people to abide by the rule of law to accomplish these equal rights, and they fight for a change in the future to ensure that the work they have done is not destroyed by the younger generations. Thanks to the hard work of our ancestors, the freedom that we are granted benefits many people around the world today. If it were not for their struggle we would not have some of the privileges we have today, such as the right to vote. Alice Paul and Ida B. Wells are both exemplary examples of advocates for the women’s suffrage. They marched and protested for the right to vote which eventually led to the 19th amendment. It took a very strong leader to accomplish this goal, a person that believed in the rule of law and a change for the future. These women are just two examples of people who were self motivated for a change. Many other people struggled for a change in what they believed in,and if they fought hard enough their efforts
After teaching for 15 year, she became active in temperance. However, because she was a women she was not allowed to speak at rallies. Soon after meeting Elizabeth Cady Stanton she became very active in the women’s right movement in 1852 and dedicated her life to woman suffrage.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an important element of the Women’s Rights Movement, but not many people know of her significance or contributions because she has been overshadowed by her long time associate and friend, Susan B. Anthony. However, I feel that she was a woman of great importance who was the driving force behind the 1848 Convention, played a leadership role in the women’s rights movement for the next fifty years, and in the words of Henry Thomas, “She was the architect and author of the movement’s most important strategies ad documents.”
In 1869, Susan B. Anthony, a woman suffragist and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the NWSA or the National
Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote “A Declaration of Sentiments” in July 1848 as a fight for women’s rights at a convention in Seneca Falls, New York, where she presented it. Stanton modeled the writing of her own declaration on the infamous “Declaration of Independence” by Thomas Jefferson. Although both of these pieces of writings were based on American freedom, they were two completely different aspects of freedom and deriving issues. “The Declaration of Sentiments” was based on the equality of men and women, and “The Declaration was based on political equality. Stanton's style of her writing was nearly identical to Jefferson’s. She is trying to get more attention to the independence and rights that women failed to receive during those times and was determined to change that. Due to Stanton's way of addressing the issue, she has had a huge impact on the gaining of women's rights.
During the 1800’s, there was a shift towards equality for a multitude of groups. Predating this movement, there was already a premonition of how one of these groups, women, should act and behave within society. Many women joined together to form the Feminist movement, which advocated for women no longer being treated inferior to their male counterparts. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Judith Sargent Murray were two prominent leaders in the early feminist movement. Both of these women challenged the sexist norms that they were placed under in the patriarchal society at the time. To further publicize their arguments and progress their movement, the two females wrote feminist documents representing their views: Stanton, with the help of others, writing
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, in an unprecedented movement, raised the concern for the issue of woman's rights. In her day, such matters of "enlightened motherhood", temperance, and abolitionism were seldom taken to heart by the opposite sex. When she spoke at woman's advocacy conventions, anti-feminists and conservative reformers alike censured her. Although her stand on woman's rights was her main interest, it was work in progress toward a larger and more far-fetched goal. Her priorities concerning an idealistic society could be structured as a pyramid. As the foundation, she suggested reform for prisoners and the working class; she opted to eradicate domestic violence against women through the rehabilitation of alcoholic husbands, and not far behind was the proposition for liberal divorce of said husbands. That being accomplished, marital equality and idyllic child-raising would gradually approach her dream of utopia. Mild amendments along the way support her broad tolerance for the modifications in society. Amid suffrage were the theories of eugenics, phrenology, and anticlericalism; her tendency to leap from one unmentionable interest to another left most advocates confused and irritated; some Cady Stanton enthusiasts, however, applied her views to their budding beliefs. Only eighteen years after her death would the closest thing to her dream of utopia be realized: the Nineteenth Amendment granting women the right to vote.
It was Theodore Roosevelt, who stated that, “Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care”, conveying the idea that with no voice comes no change. In the morning of August 26, 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified, which centralized mainly on the enfranchisement of women. Today, they have the legal right to vote, and the ability to speak openly for themselves, but most of all they are now free and equal citizens. However this victorious triumph in American history would not have been achieved without the strong voices of determined women, risking their lives to show the world how much they truly cared. Women suffragists in the 19th century had a strong passion to change their lifestyle, their jobs around the nineteenth century were limited to just children, family, and domestic duties. It consisted of a very low rate of education, and job opportunities. They could not share their opinion publicly and were expected to support their male family members and husbands during the time. Women knew that the way to enfranchisement was going to be tenacious, and full of obstacles along the way. Therefore a new organization was formed, The National American Women Association (NAWSA), representing millions of women and Elizabeth Cady Stanton as the first party president. This organization was founded in 1890, which strategized on the women getting education in order to strengthen their knowledge to prepare for the suffrage fight. NAWSA mainly focused on the right to vote one state at a time. In 1917, a member named Alice Paul, split apart from NAWSA because of the organization’s tactics and major goals. Due to this split, many other suffragists from NAWSA bitterly divided into a new organization named, National Women’s ...
Susan B. Anthony is the most well known name in women's rights from the 1800s. Most people who are not familiar with the history of this time are aware of Susan's reputation and nearly everyone of my generation has seen and held a Susan B. Anthony silver dollar. For these reasons I was greatly surprised to learn that Elizabeth Cady Stanton was the original women's rights movement spokeswoman and Susan B. Anthony her protégé.
While being born in the modern times, no woman knows what it was like to have a status less than a man’s. It is hard to envision what struggles many women had to go through in order to get the rights to be considered equal. In the essay The Meanings of Seneca Falls, 1848-1998, Gerda Lerner recalls the events surrounding the great women’s movement. Among the several women that stand out in the movement, Elizabeth Cady Stanton stands out because of her accomplishments. Upon being denied seating and voting rights at the World Antislavery Convention of 1840, she was outraged and humiliated, and wanted change. Because of Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s great perseverance, the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 was a success as well as a great influence on the future of women’s rights.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s speech was very impactful thanks to her well thought-out address, emotionally impactful statements, and rhetorical devices. By using emotional, logical, and ethical appeals, she was able to persuade many, and show a first hand look at someone personally crippled by the lack of women’s rights in her time. Through her experience, she was able to give an exceptional speech conveying the deprivation of women in her time, changing society, and helping women reach equality in America.