Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Bio

Reformer, writer, leader of the women’s suffrage movement, diarist, editor. Eighty Years and More. She was born on Main and North Market Streets in Johnstown, N.Y. By special arrangement she was allowed to study at Johnstown Academy, open only to boys, where she studied Greek, Latin, and mathematics. She went on to attend Emma Willard’s academy in Troy, N.Y., where she graduated in 1832. She studied law with her father, Judge Daniel Cady, but couldn’t be admitted to the bar or practice since she was female. She married the abolitionist Henry Brewster Stanton in 1840, and became involved with the abolitionism movement. Stanton perceived the degree of discrimination against women during a trip that summer to an anti-slavery conference in London, when she and other female delegates were refused recognition based solely on their sex. After several years in Boston, Stanton and her husband moved to Seneca Falls, N.Y. With Lucreta Mott (who had been one of the delegates refused recognition at the 1840 anti-slavery conference in London), Stanton called the women’s rights convention held at Seneca Falls in 1848. She gave the opening speech and outlined a Declaration of Sentiments which listed the grievances of women against existing laws and customs, and proposed a resolution demanding women’s suffrage as the key to all other rights for women. Amelia Jenkins (Jenks) Bloomer (1818-1894) was also in attendance. Because of Stanton’s pioneer stance in favor of women’s suffrage rights, property rights, and divorce rights, she became regarded as a dangerous radical. In 1851, Stanton met Susan B Anthony (1820-1906), who was then crusading for temperance reform. Stanton convinced Anthony to join forces with her, and they continued their formidable cause for reform. “The Women’s Bible: A Classic Feminist Perspective.”