American women's rights activist (1815–1902), she co-organized the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, the first major gathering for women's suffrage in the United States. Author of the Declaration of Sentiments, she devoted her life to the civic and political equality of women.
Frequently asked questions
Famous Quotes
« We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal.»
« Woman is her own sovereign.»
Key Facts
- 1815: born in Johnstown, New York
- 1848: co-organized the Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights congress
- 1848: drafted the Declaration of Sentiments, modeled on the United States Declaration of Independence
- 1869: co-founded the National Woman Suffrage Association with Susan B. Anthony
- 1902: died, 18 years before the ratification of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote
Works & Achievements
The founding text of American feminism, drafted by Stanton in the mold of the Declaration of Independence. It listed 18 grievances against male domination and was the first official document to demand women's right to vote.
A monumental work co-written with Susan B. Anthony and Matilda Joslyn Gage, tracing the history of the American suffrage movement from its origins. A major historical source for understanding the beginnings of American feminism.
A speech delivered before the U.S. Congress and the NAWSA, considered Stanton's rhetorical masterpiece. In it, she argues that every individual — man or woman — must be equipped to face life's trials alone.
A critical commentary on biblical passages relating to women, showing that Scripture had been used to justify their subordination. The work scandalized religious circles and moderate suffragists alike.
Stanton's autobiography, written at age 83, tracing her life from childhood to old age. An invaluable document on the condition of women in the nineteenth century and on the inner workings of the suffrage movement.
Anecdotes
At the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton proposed a resolution demanding the right to vote for women — an idea so radical that her own husband, Henry Stanton, left town to avoid being associated with it. Only the abolitionist Frederick Douglass publicly supported her, helping the resolution pass by a narrow margin.
Mother of seven children, Stanton ran a full household while drafting speeches and petitions. She herself recounted how she would work through her arguments while kneading bread or watching the children, turning domestic chores into intellectual working time.
Well into her seventies, Stanton undertook a feminist rewriting of the Bible. Her work *The Woman's Bible* (1895) scandalized even her suffragist allies, who passed an official motion to distance themselves from it — she stood by it without flinching, refusing to sacrifice her convictions for political strategy.
In 1840, at the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, Stanton and Lucretia Mott were barred from sitting as delegates on the grounds that they were women. Relegated to a screened-off gallery, they decided that day to organize a convention devoted entirely to women's rights — which led, eight years later, to Seneca Falls.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton never got to vote in her lifetime: she died in 1902, eighteen years before the 19th Amendment granted suffrage to American women in 1920. In her last public address, *The Solitude of Self*, she had declared with striking clarity that every human being must be sovereign over their own destiny.
Primary Sources
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.
The strongest reason for giving woman all the opportunities for higher education, for the full development of her faculties, forces of mind and body... is the solitude and personal responsibility of her own individual life.
I felt as if I had been to a great feast, and had tasted of everything, and was satisfied... I had not supposed that women could accomplish so much in the face of such determined opposition.
The Bible and the Church have been the greatest stumbling blocks in the way of women's emancipation.
I am not willing to have the word 'male' inserted in the Constitution, disfranchising the women of this nation. I would rather fight another ten years than accept such a compromise.
Key Places
Elizabeth Cady Stanton's birthplace, where she grew up in the home of her father, a lawyer and judge. It was while reading the case files in his office that she first became aware of the legal inequalities facing women.
The town where the first major women's rights convention was held in July 1848, organized by Stanton and Lucretia Mott. The Wesleyan Chapel that hosted the event is today a national monument.
In 1840, Stanton attended the World Anti-Slavery Convention, where women were barred from participating in the debates. This defining humiliation convinced her to dedicate her life to women's rights.
Stanton testified before the U.S. Congress on multiple occasions to demand women's suffrage, most notably in 1869 and in 1892 with her celebrated address *The Solitude of Self*.
Stanton spent her final decades in New York, where she died on October 26, 1902. The city was also the center of her editorial and activist work throughout the 1860s and 1870s.
Liens externes & ressources
Références
Œuvres
Déclaration des sentiments (Declaration of Sentiments)
1848
History of Woman Suffrage (tomes I à III)
1881–1886
The Solitude of Self
1892
The Woman's Bible
1895
Eighty Years and More: Reminiscences 1815–1897
1898
