Stanton, Elizabeth Cady

Seneca Falls Convention

In 1840, Elizabeth married Henry Stanton, a fellow abolitionist. It was within the abolitionist community that the participation of women at conventions was called into question, and this is where some believe the Stanton's found themselves on different sides of the issue.

It was at the first World Anti-Slavery Convention in 1840 when Elizabeth met Lucretia Mott, a woman destined to be a partner in the suffrage movement. It was also Elizabeth's entry into an emerging feminist community that included the Grimke sisters, Frederick Douglass, and Mott's sister, Martha Wright. Elizabeth worked to pass a New York state law allowing married women to keep property in their own names. It was during this conference, which refused to seat Mott and other U.S. women delegates because of their sex, that Elizabeth and her friends came up with the idea for the Seneca Falls Convention—which historians [Page 1162]often credit as the birth of the first wave of feminism—to address the condition of woman. It was also the first public evidence of a divide between suffragists who wanted universal suffrage, versus Cady Stanton suffragists, who sought it for white women first. What sparked the divide is the apparent idea that African American men would get the right to vote before educated white women, which did end up happening.

The Seneca Falls Convention began with a social visit between Mott, Stanton, Wright, Mary Ann McClintock, and Jane Hunt in Waterloo, New York. By the end of the afternoon, the women had drafted plans for a convention “to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman.” Five days later, on July 19 and 20, their inconspicuous notice had drawn a crowd of 300 people. All of their resolutions were passed unanimously except for women's suffrage.

Teaming with Susan B. Anthony

In spring 1851, Elizabeth met well-known abolitionist Susan B. Anthony, and the ensuing lifelong partnership for their cause became beneficial for both women. Anthony, single and without children, was free to tour the country advocating for women's rights, while Stanton often stayed home to parent her eight children and write many of the speeches Anthony gave. Stanton had household help, but she struggled to make time for her activism as her prominence grew.

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