Elizabeth Cady Argumentative Essay

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was born in November 12, 1815, in Johnstown, New York. Her parents were Margaret Livingston and Daniel Cady, who were important citizens. Daniel Cady, in particular, was notable for being a lawyer, state assemblyman, and congressman, who supported his daughter’s education. Unlike many women of her time, she went to primary school at the Johnstown Academy and attended Emma Willard’s Troy Female Seminary, an all girl’s boarding school that taught grades 9-12. In addition, she was taught Greek by a minister and received an informal legal education from her father and the young men who were learning under him. Although she was raised a strict Presbyterian in a conservative household, she had other influences in her family that were more radical. Her cousin, Gerri Smith, was a philanthropist,

abolitionist, critic of religion, and a client of Daniel Cady. After her education was over, she spent several years visting relatives, hosting parties, and helping her parents run their home. In 1839, she visited Gerri Smith, and met abolitionist Henry Stanton at Smith’s home. A year later, in 1840, the pair got married, much to the disdain of Daniel Cady.

Henry Stanton was struggling financially as he worked for the American Anti-Slavery Society without any pay and gave loans to fellow abolitionists, which he often never got back. When Cady Stanton went to London for her honeymoon, she was shocked when the World’s Anti- Slavery Convention would not allow women in. Her and Lucretia Mott decided to make a women’s rights convention, but their dream did not come to fruition until 1848. However, both her political life and her personal life was prosperous. Between 1842 and 1859, in the early years of her marriage, she had seven children, and raised them herself since her husband was busy either working in law or advocating for reform away from home. She lived in Johnstown and Albany in her parent’s residence, where she discussed legal reform and women’s legal rights, especially to property, with lawyers and congressmen. She also lived in Boston with her husband, eventually forming friendships with women’s rights supporters, such as Angelina and Sarah Grimké, and women in the Boston and Philidelphia female abolitionist

groups. Cady Stanton especially favored abolitionists who supported William Lloyd Garrison’s theory of moral abolitionism, while acting as the perfect wife and hosting her husband’s guests who were not in favor of Garrison’s theory. While writing her female friends, they discussed religion and women’s individualism.

In 1847 the Stantons moved to Seneca Falls, and in 1848 Cady Stanton held the first Women’s Rights Convention on July 19th and the 20th. Around 200 people attended, including men. The Declaration of Sentiments and Grievances was signed at the convention, which was a document declaring the full rights and equality of women. It stated that in staying true to the original ideas of the Founding Fathers, women’s taxation without representation and government without their consent could not be allowed. Arguments used by legal reformers on English law were implimented as well, one in particular being that a woman was disabled under the law because she lost all rights when she was married. The majority of the crowd were Quakers from New York, who supported the women’s rights movement strongly. Two weeks later, a larger convention was held in Rochester that protested for women’s right to vote. In 1851, she met Susan B. Anthony, who was a single woman and was able to travel and earn a living for her reform work. Anthony was also skilled in organizing people to work for women’s suffrage, a skill Cady Stanton lacked. They began to work together on speeches, books, and protests. In 1852, she signed on to the temperance movement, something Anthony was passionate about, and was president of the Women’s New York State Temperance Society, until she was voted out of her position. In 1854 they worked on their first campaign together, Anthony wrote petitions, held meetings, and lobbied, whereas Stanton wrote the arguments. She argued that women were in an unfair system that would not allow them custody of their children in the case of a divorce, took their money, and made them homeless if widowhood were to happen. Until the Civil War began, the duo yearly protested, some years earning approval, others mockery. In 1860 laws about the financial rights of married women, custody of mothers and widow’s rights were rewritten because of their efforts. In 1862, Cady Stanton left Seneca Falls for Brooklyn, New York, who urged Northern women during the Civil War to stick together, and organized the Women’s Loyal National League. Her and Anthony managed to get 400, 000 signatures to the Massachussets senator, Charles Summer, for a thirteenth amendment by 1864. She also made the league political, publically connecting it with presidential candidate John C. Frémont.

After the Civil War, her popularity increased. She became president of the National Woman Suffrage Association, and was also a social and political commenter. She toured the nation, charming crowds with her wit and charm. Cady Stanton talked about issues such as maternity and motherhood, the temperance movement, raising children, divorce laws, constitutional questions, and presidential candidates. Her controversial nature only served to gain her audience; she regularly spoke about women who held double standards, like Abby McFarland Richardson and Laura Fair. She entertained the audience while asking them how they could help gain equality for the sexes. In the 1880s, she stopped traveling and focused on her writing, making three volumes of History of Woman Suffrage during 1881 to 1885 with the help of Anthony and Matilda Joslyn Gage. She also wrote a book commenting on religion, titled the Woman’s Bible in 1895. In Woman’s Bible, she argued that religion and masculine interpretation of it limited the independence of women. Another influential book she wrote was an autobiography of herself, Eighty Years and More. She died in October 1902 in an apartment in New York that she lived in with two of her adult children.

Elizabeth Cady valued equal rights for all, including women and African Americans. Her lifelong goal was to see women have the right to vote, unfortunately, she died before women received suffrage. She was one of the biggest pioneers in women’s suffrage, writing many books, holding campaigns, and speaking about the topic. An early influence on her was her father, who was an educated man and always encouraged her to get an education. He taught her about the law and let her discuss it with guests of his, which helped develop her famous writing skills. Cady Stanton’s strength and independence displayed itself many times throughout her life, especially compared to women of her time. Women in the 1800s typically resigned themselves to being second class citizens, bound to the home and their children. Their education was not considered a necessity or a right, and when they did go on to higher education, colleges were divided by gender. Women worked outside the home, mostly in mills and factories, making much less than her male counterpart. Single women did have some legal rights, such as the right to own property and to make a contract. But, when a woman was married, her husband controlled her and her children. Politically a woman had no voice.