women's history month

hey, it's women's history month!
and i just so happen to have written a biography of elizabeth cady staton for my wmst class this past weekend.

here it is!

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was born on November 12, 1815, in Johnstown, New York. Her father, Daniel Cady, who Stanton favored and consistently tried to impress, was a well-respected lawyer in Johnstown. She and her four sisters and brother, were raised with a strong conservative and Presbyterian influence. Her mother, Margaret Livingston Cady, raised her daughters to embrace the domestic arts so they could be suitable future wives. Contrary to Margaret’s wishes for her daughters, the nurses who looked after the Cady children considered them stubborn and disobedient. Elizabeth was often punished for “justifiable acts of rebellion against the tyranny of authority” (Oakley, 1972, p. 16). It seems Stanton was destined from birth to live anything but an ordinary and submissive life. 

A critical point in Stanton’s understanding of what it meant for her to be born a girl, was when her only brother died. Stanton tried to console her father, only to be rejected because of her sex. Judge Cady admitted to Stanton that he “wished she was a boy” (Oakley, 1972, p. 17) From that point forward, Stanton made sure to follow in her brother’s foot steps. She studied Greek, Latin, law, and mathematics at Johnstown Academy. She graduated at the top of her class in 1830 at the age of 15. In 1831, Stanton enrolled at Troy Female Seminary School and continued to study logic, geometry, chemistry and history (Swain, 1996).

By the late 1840’s Stanton decided to leave Johnstown and stay with relatives in Peterboro, New York who paved the way for her reformist ideology. The Smith’s were abolitionists and eventually lent their house as a station for the Underground Railroad (Banner, 1980).  Through her new network with the Smith’s, Stanton met her husband Henry Stanton who was an executive of the American Anti-Slavery Society and renowned antislavery speaker. Stanton and her husband traveled to London for an anti-slavery meeting when Stanton first met Lucretia Mott. They were both outraged that women were not allowed to speak at the anti-slavery meeting and decided they would hold a meeting for women in the United States. On July 19, 1848, Mott and Stanton hosted the first women’s rights convention at Seneca Falls where nearly three hundred people attended. Sixty-eight women and thirty-two men signed the Declaration of Sentiments, a proposal drafted by Stanton and Mott, declaring that women were created equal to men (Swain, 1996). Stanton believed that women’s right to vote was the most important piece of the Declaration, and even went to the United States Congress in 1892, asking for a law to allow women to vote. Although denied, Stanton dedicated the rest of her life to the women’s suffrage movement. She traveled, gave lectures, wrote articles and books, and even started her own newspaper, The Revolution. Stanton died on October 26, 1902, the day after she wrote a letter to President Roosevelt requesting his help with the women’s suffrage movement (Davis, 1998).

References

Banner, L. W. (1980). Elizabeth Cady Stanton: A radical for women’s rights. Sterling, PA: Brown Brothers.

Davis, L. (1998). Elizabeth Cady Stanton: A photo-illustrated biography. Mankato, MN: Bridgestone Books.

Oakley, M. A. B. (1972). Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Long Island, NY: Feminist Press.

Swain, G. (1996). The road to Seneca Falls: A story about Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Minneapolis, MN: Carolrhoda Books.
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this was the short version. if you would like a copy of the long version, let me know! :)