Fighting for Women’s Suffrage

Elizabeth Cady Stanton is something of an unsung hero in the history of the feminist movement. Though she is still primarily known as an advocate of women’s suffrage and is closely linked to the better known Susan B. Anthony, Stanton was shunned by many of her fellow suffragists because her ideas seem too radical and because many were disturbed by her barely Deist view of religion.  Over a century after her death, modern feminists tend to overlook Stanton in favor of Anthony, while remembering that Stanton enjoyed taking on the traditional 19th century gender roles of being the mother of a large family and remaining devoted to her husband throughout her life. And while Anthony’s comments about abortion are still fiercely debated by pro-life and pro-choice crowds, Stanton held conservative views toward abortion. It’s clear that Elizabeth Cady Stanton was very much her own woman, certainly a fitting description that she would not have wanted any other way.

Though she is not as well known or fondly remembered as her closest counterpart, Stanton preceded Anthony as an advocate of women’s rights. It was Stanton who issued the Declaration of Sentiments at the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848, touching off the organized movement that worked toward suffrage and equality. At the same time, Stanton was an ardent abolitionist, and she focused on progressive issues like custody rights, divorce, women’s property rights, employment issues, and even birth control.

During the last 100 years, Susan B. Anthony has been one of the most venerated women in American history, but in the 80 years before that, she was one of the most hated women in American history. Anthony took note of her contemporaries’ distaste for her but remained defiant, asserting, “I have encountered riotous mobs and have been hung in effigy, but my motto is: Men's rights are nothing more. Women's rights are nothing less.”

Today, of course, every American is taught about their nation’s most famous suffragist, who tirelessly advocated and lobbied for women to be granted the right to vote. Though it wouldn’t become legal until 14 years after Anthony’s death, Anthony took it upon herself to illegally vote in 1872, which initiated one of the late 19th century’s most famous political court cases. Anthony was able to publicize women’s plight and her cause even as she was subjected to a kangaroo court in which the judge ordered the jury to find her guilty, but she managed to embarrass authorities so much that they released her from jail instead of allowing her to appeal the conviction and continue to bring attention to her case.

Though Anthony is best remembered today for working towards women’s suffrage with other women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, she was an active and progressive advocate for all of the leading human rights issues of her time. Anthony was an ardent abolitionist from day one, and she spent much of the first 40 years of her life championing the cause of African-Americans, even befriending men like Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison along the way. She also championed “radical” ideas as 8 hour work days, minimum wage laws, and equal pay for women.