Elizabeth Cady Stanton : The Need For Equality For Women In History

In the late Nineteenth century, women were beginning to become more progressive in their actions. They began to stand up for themselves and fight for their rights. In the late 1850’s, Elizabeth Cady Stanton was one of the more prominent women to do so. She worked with Susan B. Anthony to deliver a majority of the population the rights that they rightfully deserved. Her actions are important in the United States’ History because they helped to encourage women to form the Women’s Suffrage Movement. Many Scholars have written about her, but simply with a different lens of focus. For example, they have written about her use of the bicycle in her campaign and her unique stance on religion. It is important to continue studying her actions because the issues she was fighting for back then, such as: the abolition of capital punishment, and an end to police brutality, are still issues today. Perhaps if the people of the United States today collectively took after her intrepid and forward thinking attitude in life, there could be more positive change in this country.

Stanton accomplished great things although; she did not actually experience what her accomplishments resulted in. She was an advocate for women’s suffrage and that was her goal. She died before she could see her wish come true, but all her hard work and accomplishments made it happen. Along with her friend and partner Susan B. Anthony, Stanton began her fight for women’s rights in politics after the American Revolution. She organized the first national women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls (Gordon, 2009). This was the first time that the advocates for women’s rights formally organized. At this convention Stanton also co-authored the Declaration of Sentiments which really was the Declaration of Independence for women (Gordon, 2009). These women knew how powerful the original Declaration of Independence was in the US, and they were hoping to do the same. This showed the people who women are in the same situation that the US was with Britain before the revolution. Writing the Declaration was a huge step because without it they couldn’t really illustrate how severe their situation really was. Another accomplishment was the enactment of the married women’s property statute in 1848. Stanton and her followers were determined to see change in the property rights of women. In England, women had no

The problem states that women of the 19th century believed they were not free because they did not have the right to vote. This right to vote was the gateway to women’s freedom if men allowed it to pass through. Stanton believed freedom to be the equality among all genders. The Suffrage Movement brought about the First Women’s Convention to discuss the issue of women’s rights. The First Women’s Convention led to the continuation of more conventions as a way to get a woman’s perspective to be heard.

Women feel like they are slaves and owned because they have no freedom. Women submit to laws in the formation of which she has no voice, they have no representation in the halls of legislation. Stanton elaborates further by providing that women have the same rights and privileges as men stating “we insist that they have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges which belong to them as citizens of the United States”(Stanton, 583) and that all people within a society should have the same status in respects of civil rights, freedom of speech, property rights and equal access to all social goods and services by stating, “it is their duty to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.” (Stanton, 582) When explaining each injustice and oppression against women, Stanton induces the reader to act “because women do feel themselves aggrieved, oppressed, and fraudulently deprived of their most sacred rights.” (Stanton, 583) Stanton is portraying women as innocent, blameless victims, and men as the evil opposition.

Elizabeth Stanton delivered one of the most historical speeches in U.S history in 1848. Her speech, “Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions” was a fight for women’s rights. Elizabeth Stanton was a mother, highly accomplished and well educated. She began to relish the fact that women had a lack of advancement opportunities, and were especially constricted compared to men. She gave her speech at the Seneca Falls convention, and caught the attention of many with her compelling speech tactics. Stanton wrote her speech structured after our nations “Declaration of Independence”. She also persuaded others to see the truth behind her arguments by claims of natural rights. Finally Stanton uses a pathos strategy

Women’s suffrage was at the root of the reform. Women sought to equalize voting rights and expand their roles in the workforce. Equal rights was at the basis and heart of democratic ideals and this was what women were working towards in their reform. Document I supports the idea of women vouching for equal rights in order to give them an equal say in the government. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the speaker in document I, is attempting to mend the government and better society by speaking out for her rights as a woman. This is an example of a reformation that was seeking to expand democratic ideals by expanding equality. The Women’s rights movement didn’t end here, in fact it continued to be a rising issue, women didn’t receive the right to vote until

One point that Elizabeth Cady Stanton makes is that the man never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to the elective franchise. This is very true seeing that women were not even allowed to work because their place was at the home where they were to raise the family. If women did work for a part time they would not get even close to the amount of money that males get. She also states that he has taken from her all right in property, even the wages that she earns. Women at this time were not allowed to own property. She also states that he has withheld her from her rights, which are given to the most ignorant and degraded men, which even includes foreigners. This meant even if you were the smartest, kindest, and most willing to work hard woman alive, you still would be treated worse than the least respected man.

If Elizabeth Cady Stanton was alive today, she would be definitely pleased to see the advancements of women’s rights, however, she would not be completely satisfied and probably disappointed to see that many of the issues she brought up during her time are still being dealt with today. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was highly critical of the sexual double standard and the lack of equal education for women. She believed that men should be placed at the same moral standard as women and that women should be given the same opportunity in education as men. Remarkably, women today have advanced far more in education than with the sexual double standard, however, the sexual double standard has come to collide with women’s education.

From Stanton having this convention it shows that women are not going to be pushed around doing what the men want them to do, rather they will stand up for themselves. This brought on change for women everywhere in America, they finally felt as if they could stand up for themselves and each other. "Whatever the theories may be of women's dependence on man, in the supreme moments of her life, he cannot bear her burdens. In the tragedies and triumphs of human experience, each mortal stands alone.” (mentalfloss.com/empowering-quotes-elizabeth)

When Elizabeth Cady Stanton was in the full swing of fighting for rights I think she was like most of reformers. She was tough and took on a whole lot of issues at a time. During this time period there were a lot of issues going on that women were fighting. The 1800’s saw a lot of change through these women also. Women began to view their own rights as significant and advocated for the realization of these rights. The issues were widespread from education to abolition to woman’s suffrage. Many women’s rights advocates worked closely with the abolitionist cause to secure suffrage for African Americans. African American men were granted the right to vote in 1870 with the passage of the 15th Amendment. However, it was not until 1920 that women

Nonetheless, Stanton managed to target her audiences, by assuming herself as almost a philosopher communicating about life and individual human soul, rather than as a feminist (1). Consider that her audience were males and did not form a positive impression on her before she made the speech, Stanton was able to grab her audiences’ attention by turning away from her usual approach to promote women’s suffrage and raising a question about individual rights (Ginzberg 170). The speech was structured in a way that all individuals could relate to the speech, and benefit from reflecting about the question proposed by the speech.

Suffragist, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, in her speech, "The destructive Male," argues for a new amendment concerning women's rights. Stanton's purpose is to not only rally the women who have suffered unfair treatment because of the existing patriarchy, but to ultimately construct these ideas into the minds of congressmen. She adopts a cloying tone to furthermore emphasize her ideas to ultimately change the course of rights for women.

At the convention, Stanton presented the Declaration of Sentiments. The Declaration of Sentiments was a document which listed the ways in which women’s rights were violated. When Stanton wrote the Declaration of Sentiments she got inspiration and even took some passages from the Declaration of Independence. In the first paragraph of the Sentiments, Stanton makes connections between the Declaration of Independence and women’s rights. She directly lifts long passages from the Declaration of Independence weaving in her own opinion about women’s rights. She infers that it’s not just “men” we’re speaking about, but “mankind”, which includes women (Rossi 10). “We hold these truths to be self - evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights” (Stanton 1). Stanton took this famous passage almost directly from the Declaration of Independence. She simply added the word “women” instead of just men. Also in the Sentiments, Stanton and Mott insisted that women get many more rights as they should as citizens. The most controversial request was for the women’s right to vote. “It was the first time in the United States that women had publicly demanded the right to vote,” (Rossi 10). Stanton and Mott were happy to simply have gotten the conversation started. Even though they were judged and even ridiculed

Stanton advocated many things, and opposed others. Her views were seen as inspirational to other women suffragists, and helped to bring the controversy over women equitability. The women’s rights movement expanded in the 1850s, but after the Civil War started, many feminists focused on abolishing slavery. They organized a “massive petition drive in the North for a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery and collected more than 400,000 signatures, building momentum for its passage in 1865” (Infobase Learning). Years later, another amendment to

Elizabeth Cady Stanton didn’t want to be remembered as a household but the women they will admire. The purpose of this paper is to explain the life of Elizabeth Stanton and how she had a huge effect on the outcome of seeking equal rights for woman.