In the early development of America, the laws and regulations set in place caused the natural rights of many peoples to be infringed upon. Of the peoples who were denied rights were the women of the nation. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B Anthony paired together in order to change within society and the American government. They did this by holding conventions such as the convention in Seneca Falls entitled, Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions. Also Elizabeth Stanton wrote her memoir, Eighty Years and More, in order to discuss her early life and how it provoked her to change the rights and freedoms that women receive. Stanton and Anthony prompt defied the values, norms, and customs that the American government and society was upholding by contradicting the concept of the time …show more content…
that woman were made for men.
This discrimination towards this sex was reinforced by the idea that women was made for man. Not only was this idea prevalent within society but it furthermore is resonated through the laws and documents the government put in place. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony fought to establish equality between both sexes within the nation. This is illustrated within the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions at Seneca Falls when these women stated, “The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object he establishment of an absolute tyranny over her.” This quote expresses the past of women rights and how from the beginning of time women have been seen as inferior to man. This furthermore resonated to express the idea that women were not only inferior but also a material object in a man’s life. Stanton and Anthony put a large emphasis into this ideal, making it their driving force into establishing women’s rights in America.
The laws of the nation were degrading to the freedom and rights of the women in the land. The makers of the laws were all men who believed that women had no place in the
public sphere and therefore should not have equal rights as their own sex. Stanton and Anthony furthermore discussed these issues at the Seneca Falls convention by stating, “ Resolved, That all laws which prevent women from occupying such a station in society as her conscience shall dictate, which place her in a position inferior to that of man, are contrary to the great precept of nature, and therefore of no force or authority.” This quote furthermore describes the push for equality that Stanton and Anthony wanted to see in the government. The way the laws were set up during the time lead to women being set lower and a piece of property. At the Seneca meeting these women effectively brought up many different resolutions in order to correct and bring the attention the unjust laws to the common people. Elizabeth Cady Stanton goes further in detail within 80 years and more by writing, “Women has never been thought of other than a piece of property, to be disposed of at the will and pleasure of man.” This statement describes the common view of society in where women are not an independent person but instead an object under the watch and control of man. The view that women was made from man lead men to believe that women were meant to be oppressed or degraded upon. Stanton goes on further to say, “We read, with critical eyes, the proceedings of Congress and legislatures, of general assemblies and synods, of conferences and conventions, and discovered that, in all alike, the existence of women was entirely ignored.” The driving concept that women was made for man lead women to be thrown aside and not seen as a part of society. Stanton saw this treatment of women and instead of ignoring it like much of the nation, she went forward and decided to bring it to the attention of women in order to change the laws and government. Although Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony were huge activists in obtaining more women’s rights and freedoms they were unable to see the benefits to their work and effort before their deaths. These two women had vastly effective methods in order to obtain the attention of those in the nation who listened to the need for women’s rights. For instance, Stanton and Anthony commonly used the documents that were written that only benefitted to the male gender and changed them to make them equal to both of the sexes. For example the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions states, “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; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” This statement by these two women strongly resonated within their audience due to the fact that they reworded a document that the common people knew as the highest law and truth. This method was very effective in getting the citizens at the convention to question the use of language and the laws that the government of the time was making. Although Stanton and Anthony used proper and effective language and speech skills, part of the issue was the era in where they were trying to progress. As Stanton said in 80 years or more, “The trouble was not in what I said, but that I said it too soon, and before the people were ready to hear it. It may be, however, that I helped them to get ready; who knows?” Stanton and Anthony’s ideas on reform were before their time leading to the advances in the cause to not truly be seen until after their death. Although they were never alive to see the outcome of the years of effort they put into getting the right for women to be seen in society and able to vote, without these women’s driving force to establish these advancements the outcomes may never have occurred. Stanton and Anthony sparked a movement to help the women of the nation, and without their initial determination the improvements potentially would not have happened. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony worked together in attempt to establish equal rights between the men and women of the early American society. They were successful in beginning the women’s rights movement by holding conventions to inform the public and by writing different documents that challenged the values within the nation and by proving that women was in fact not made for man but instead made to be their own individual entitled to their own natural and civil rights.
Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were some of the most powerful women in the U.S. in the 1800s. These two women had many things in common. They were both abolitionist, speakers, and authors. Susan herself was the NAWSA’s first president, and Elizabeth’s life efforts helped her bring up the 19th Amendment. I stated that everybody had the right to vote. Both, of these women had or were apart of a company were Susan managed and Elizabeth wrote. They were a powerful team they actually printed an illegal paper called the “Revolution”. They actually met each other for the first time in 1851.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was one of the most renowned women to lead campaigns for women’s rights. Her efforts were focused on "opportunities for women, for married women’s property rights, the right to divorce, and the right to custody of children; her most radical demand was for women’s right to vote" (Davidson and Wagner-Martin 845). In general Stanton wished to instill independence and self-reliance in all women. Stanton was an inspiring orator of speeches including the Declaration of Sentiments as well as the book The Women’s Bible. Upon analysis of her speeches and other works, as well as gaining knowledge of her background, one is able to assume that personal experience strongly affected her writing, which illustrates her writing as representative in that it addressed inequality based on the issue of gender. Another factor that influenced her writing was the way in which she interpreted the great works, the Declaration of Independence and the Holy Bible. Noticing the obvious discrimination and guidelines set for women, Elizabeth Cady Stanton composed a new "women friendly" version of each that she called the Declaration of Sentiments and The Women’s Bible.
1. The chosen book titled “Seneca Falls and the Origins of the Women 's Right Movement” is written by Sally McMillen in 2008. It is a primary source, as long as its author for the first time opens the secrets of the revolutionary movement, which started in 1848 from the convention held by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Stanton. It is not a secondary source, as long as information from the book appears for the first time. Stanton did not reveal much in her memoirs, so the author had to work hard to bring this information on the surface. The convention changed the course of history by starting protecting women’s rights and enhancing overall gender equality. The book is a reflection of women’s activity in the name of their freedom and rights equality during fifty years. The book is significant both to the present and to the past time, as long as there are many issues in the society related to the women’s rights, and to the time studied in the class.
However, the writers of the Constitution had omitted women in that pivotal statement which left women to be denied these “unalienable” rights given to every countryman. Gaining the support of many, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the leader of the Women’s Rights Movement declared at Seneca Falls that women had the same rights as men including the right to vote and be a part of government. The Women’s Rights movement gained support due to the years of abuse women endured. For years, men had “the power to chastise and imprison his wife…” and they were tired of suffering (Doc I). The new concept of the cult of domesticity supported women’s roles in society but created greater divisions between men and women.
More than three hundred citizens came to take part in one of the most important documents written in women’s history during the Women’s Right’s Convention in upstate Seneca, New York, led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott on July 19-20, 1848 (Ryder). Stanton became persistent when she included a resolution supporting voting rights for women in the document, intimidated by this notion her loyal husband threatened to boycott the convention. “Even Lucretia Mott warned her, ‘Why Lizzie, thee will make us ridiculous!’ ‘Lizzie,’ however, refused to yield” (Rynder). As Mott dreaded, out of eleven resolutions the most argumentative was the ninth–women’s suffrage resolution. The other 10 resolutions passed consistently. “According to Cady Stanton’s account, most who opposed this resolution did so because they believed it would compromise the others. She, however, remained adamant” (Rynder). When the two-day convention was over, one hundred men and women signed the historical the Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments to...
Women were not encouraged to get a job or go to school women were taught pretty much that they were just property owned by men women stayed home and cleaned while men went out and worked, went to school, also went to college. Women were not allowed to have custody of her kids or own land all of it went to the man women were not even allowed to vote Can you imagine life being told your just there to serve men and carry your kids for nine months just to get told they are not yours they are your husbands . So women decided they were done with that and put there foot down and some women created some kind of groups which are the NAWSA (National Woman Suffrage Association).
However in the mid 1800’s women began to fight for their rights, and in particular the right to vote. In July of 1848 the first women's rights conventions was held in Seneca Falls, New York. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was tasked with drawing up the Declaration of Sentiments a declaration that would define and guide the meeting. Soon after men and women signed the Declaration of Sentiments, this was the beginning of the fight for women’s rights. 1850 was the first annual National Women’s rights convention which continued to take place through to upcoming years and continued to grow each year eventually having a rate of 1000 people each convention. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were the two leaders of the Women’s Rights Movement, in 1869 they formed the National Woman suffrage Association with it’s primary goal being to achieve voting by Congressional Amendment to the Constitution. Going ahead a few years, in 1872 Susan B. Anthony was arrested for voting in the nation election, nevertheless, she continued to fight for women’s rights the rest of her life. It wouldn’t be until 1920 till the 19th amendment would be
Women’s rights pioneer, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, in her speech, The Destructive Male, expresses her feelings about Women's suffrage in 1868, and brought to light the misconception that women are not equal to man and imply that men bring more destruction than restoration.
Sixty- nine years after the Declaration of Independence, one group of women gathered together and formed the Seneca Falls Convention. Prior and subsequent to the convention, women were not allowed to vote because they were not considered equal to men. During the convention, Elizabeth Cady Stanton delivered the “Declaration of Sentiments.” It intentionally resembles the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men and women are created equal…” (Stanton, 466). She replaced the “men” with “men and women” to represent that women and men should be treated equally. Stanton and the other women in the convention tried to fight for voting rights. Dismally, when the Equal Rights Amendment was introduced to the Congress, the act failed to be passed. Even though women voiced their opinions out and urged for justice, they could not get 2/3 of the states to agree to pass the amendment. Women wanted to tackle on the voting inequalities, but was resulted with more inequalities because people failed to listen to them. One reason why women did not achieve their goals was because the image of the traditional roles of women was difficult to break through. During this time period, many people believed that women should remain as traditional housewives.
All women should hold rights equal to men because a society governed by men and women as a unit would promote stability and peace. In “The Destructive Male” written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Stanton argues through diction and the employment of ethos, pathos, and logos that giving rights to women, and allowing women to hold positions in politics and government, would be beneficial to the whole of society.
At Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848, Stanton helped draft a Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions. In it, the advocates of women's rights accused "mankind" of "repeated injuries and usurpations" toward women. They said that men had "oppressed them on all sides." And they demanded equal access to education, the trades, professions, and an end to the double standards that existed for men and women. Only by doing away with laws that "restricted women's freedom or placed her in a position inferior to men" could women achieve equality (153).
Stanton and Mott were infuriated with the rejection of women, so they decided to hold a women’s rights meeting. This meeting was considered a Women’s Rights convention and was held in Seneca Falls. This was the very first meeting and was held in New York. Stanton then composed “The Declaration of Sentiments.” The text proposed that women should receive the right education, and changes to the law to raise the status of a “lady.”
Susan B. Anthony who was a Quaker, was therefore opposed to the immorality slavery but also played a role in the movement calling for equality and rights of women. Anthony was inspired by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was also active in both movements, but very famous for her aggressive action in the Women's Movement, which can be shown by Document I. Elizabeth Cady Stanton played a very important role in The Seneca Falls Convention of 1848. This convention also sought to expand democratic ideals, and more radically than perhaps any other event of any movement. They produced a declaration which stated that all men and women are created equal, and should therefore be treated equal. Stanton believed that women should be equally "represented in the government" and demanded for the right to vote.
Women began to speak out against the laws that were deliberately set against them. Throughout this time period, women were denied the right to vote in all federal and most state held elections. Women struggled to achieve equality; equality as citizens, equality in the work place, and equality at home. During this time, Americans worked to fight corruption in government, reduce the power of big business, and improve society as a whole.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men and women are created equal.” In the 19th century, the state of freedom of women in the United States was limited and contained a non-egalitarian relationship between men and women. Voting and participation in political decisions were reserved exclusively for men. Women began to desire for a different social climate involving the necessary rights to participate in society, regardless of sex. The effect of the Seneca Falls Convention led to a time of change and reform known as the Women’s Suffrage Movement, and influenced leading suffragists, who prompted the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment.