13 Things About Elizabeth Cady Stanton

1. Her father Daniel Cady was hoping for a boy when Elizabeth was born in 1815.

2. Elizabeth got a lifelong exposure to the law in that her father was a lawyer, assemblyman, and congressman.

3. She excelled in Greek, Latin, and Math at Troy Female Seminary.

4. She married Henry Brewster Stanton, a prominent abolitionist. At first Elizabeth’s father objected to the match because Stanton had no means of support, but relented when Stanton agreed to legal training with his father-in-law.

5. Because the young couple were only focused on reforms they never obtained the type of wealth Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s parents or sisters enjoyed.

6. She had the word obey omitted from her wedding ceremony and then spent her honeymoon at the Anti-Slavery Convention held in 1840 in the city of London. She was a little miffed when women were not included as delegates at the convention.

7. In July, 1848 she spoke out for a women’s rights convention with Lucretia Mott and others. Later she drafted the Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments radically calling for the right to vote.

8. Susan B. Anthony also became a great friend of Staton. Together they spoke out against laws that discriminated against married women including statutes that denied married women the right to own property or even hold the guardianship of their children.

9. While many of the leaders of the early movement for women’s rights focused mainly on suffrage Elizabeth Cady Staton spoke out on many different issues involving women’s rights including equal wages and liberal divorce laws.

10. She believed the Bible was partial to men…..so much so she wrote a book called The Women’s Bible where sexism was discussed. Many of her colleagues in the women’s rights movement did not hold her views and many began to distance themselves from her.

11. She had a close working relationship with Susan B. Anthony where Stanton was the writer and Anthony delivered the speeches. After the Civil War when legislators were mainly focused on voting rights for black males Anthony and Stanton continued to speak out for women’s suffrage and formed the National Women’s Suffrage Association.

12. One fact I find amazing…..one of the reasons why Stanton stayed home and allowed Anthony the job of foot soldier in the movement was Stanton stayed home with her seven children. Anthony had no children and it was easier for her to travel. Interesting……

13. At her death she left behind an unmailed letter to Theodore Roosevelt asking for his support in the women’s suffrage movement.

Finally, a great quote from Stanton, “Whatever the theories may be of woman’s dependence on man, in the supreme moments of her life he can not bear her burdens.”