Elizabeth Cady Staton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a civil rights activist in the abolitionist movement. She was involved in the first convention of women’s rights and together with Susan Anthony, they formed the national women’s loyal league as well as the national women’s association. She was a voice among reformers for women’s rights even in her later life and due to her efforts she enabled the 19th amendment which enabled women to vote. She attended Willard’s academy which was one of the best schools during her time. After school, she spent her years like other women, in leisure as well as social activities. Later on, she married Henry Stanton. Henry Stanton was part of the reformist world and was involved in politics which is what attracted her. Cady met Lucretia Mott when honeymooning in London with her husband. Lucretia was the leading Female abolitionist and it is there that Cady began studying Anglo American traditions of women’s rights. She bore seven children with Henry Stanton. However, Cady was not the traditional kind of wife since she resented domestic duties associated with wives.
Cady organized the first women’s convention in 1848 with the help of Lucretia Mott. She included the suffrage of women among their resolutions. Later she met Susan Anthony in 1851, who became a friend for life since both became very passionate and committed to the emancipation of Women. She addressed the New York legislature on a women’s rights bill and by 1860 most of the reforms she fought for in women’s status were passed (Bromwell 2010).
During the civil war, Staton and Anthony formed the National Women’s League to abolish slavery. This caused conflict since they linked women suffrage to black suffrage and even criticized the fourteenth as well as the fifteenth amendments for not paying attention to women suffrage. They established the National Women Suffrage Association in 1869 which later secured the nineteenth amendment. Elizabeth Cady went further to advocate for the liberalization of the divorce law. This caused a heated debate since it was a law supporting women to walk out of unhappy marriages. She also advocated for” the right to self-sovereignty” this advocated that women should take precautions to prevent pregnancy. She also associated with the Victoria Woodhull, notoriously known as the “free lover”. Cady Staton became a marginalized voice for women 1880’s because she brought about reforms on liberal divorce laws, sexual freedom for women and reproductive self-determination (Archives 2003). Cady diverged from mainstream women movement due to religion. She disliked religion due to her experience with a conversion process.
In England, Cady met free thinkers as well as bible critics, while in the United States, she met political activists who were Christians and were attempting to have public institutions closed on the Sabbath. They were also trying to undo laws on divorce and even establish Christianity as a religion of the state. She attempted to oppose them but was met with hostility from the women’s Christian temperance union which was a new age of women suffrage. She published a feminist commentary called “the woman’s bible” and became an active crusader for the emancipation of women until she died in 1902.
Reform movements related to women’s rights
The Seneca Falls convention is where the Rights of Women Movement declared its sentiments and formalized the union. The list contained grievances of injustices against women politically, socially as well as economically. Women were not allowed to own property and were entitled to less money during employment. These are some of the issues they fought against. Women suffrage movements such as the American Women Suffrage Association and National Women Suffrage Association were formed to fight for women’s rights and emancipation. The role of women in the society began to change significantly during the civil war as well as after. It is the same movement that later worked with the abolitionists to fight for the rights of the African-Americans. African American men were allowed to vote first in 1870, that is, after the fifteenth amendment was passed. As for the women, they were first allowed to vote after the nineteenth amendment was ratified (Dubois 1998).
Women were viewed as subordinate to men and were subject to any law that was imposed on them. Their duty was to marry and raise children as well as perform the duties of diligent wives and mothers. Women did not have legal rights to own property or even to vote since they lived in a male dominated society. When the roles of women began to change, even their clothing became more fashionable since they could now express themselves more, this included women in the rural areas. They began to display their physique to their advantage which influenced them to come out of a partriachal society which had strict rules. The change in politics is what brought greater freedom for women because it pertained to women’s rights such as abolition, temperance, suffrage and the right to get an education. Most women stopped looking for fulfillment in marriage, they began to fight for their rights to be realized. A “women’s declaration of independence” was read in 1870, it was modeled after the original document spearheaded by Elizabeth Cady 1848. The declaration of independence for women did not achieve equal status for women in the society, however, it encouraged an era of reforms for women. Women such as Lucy stone and Antoinette Brown began advocating for the abolition of slavery before even fighting for their own equality as well as independence in the society. Being abolitionists predated on their femininity and their primary commitment to bring an end to slavery.
Elizabeth Cady Staton fought for abolition for decades as a secondary reform movement. According to her, prejudice against sex was deeper than the prejudice against race. The Seneca convention brought close to 300 people, mostly women and a few men. Many prominent black women such as Harriet Tubman supported the national women suffrage association, Harriet was a major key player in the underground Rail road. Tubman had previously been honored by the New England Women Suffrage Association and supported a universal suffrage movement idea in a period that reformers believed that suffrage for black men was a more urgent matter to be addressed compared to women suffrage. Suffrage was a major issue in western parts of the United States since women were viewed to be freer on the eastern United States (DuBois 1998).
Works Cited
Archives, History Art and. History Art and Archives. 2003. <http://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/WIC/Historical-Essays/No-Lady/Womens-Rights/>. Web.
Bromwell, Susan. History of women suffrage. pubOne.Info, , 2010. Print.
Crawford, Elizabeth. The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide . Routledge, 2003. Print.
DuBois, Ellen Carol. Woman Suffrage and Women's Rights. NYU Press, 1998. Print.
Lusted, Marcia Amidon. The fight for women's suffrage. ABDO, 2011. Print.
