A LETTER TO A FRIEND FROM ELIZABETH CADY STANTON
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Dear Sir/Madam,
Greetings and I believe you are doing okay.
I am writing to inform you of the progress and experiences I have been advocating and fighting for women’s rights during the period. First of all, I must agree that it has not been comfortable with the male chauvinism and patriarchy showing up in every place I tried to bring equality and equity between the two genders.
My childhood experiences were not favourable as a female, and I began seeing women looked down upon from a very early age. I was born in Johnstown in New York on 12th 1815. My father was a lawyer, and I gained a lot from his work of being a lawyer. I graduated from a female seminary in 1832. Even though I had a strong feeling and belief that women had not been given an equal place with men, I did not have a platform to air my view till I started visiting my cousin Gerrit Smith. In his home area, I learned about women’s rights movements, and I got attracted to them. Learning about this was the beginning of my journey I the fight for the rights of women.
In my schooling, I could early see a distinction between female students and male students. I could see how male students were always the leaders in the student body. The school and especially the female seminary also got me to know how the bible and other religious books and beliefs can be used and have been used to look down upon women.
In 1840, I got married to reformer Henry Stanton, and during the wedding, I had to omit the word obey in the vows. I skipped it because I did not feel the need to follow him. After all, if it is a home, there should be mutual responsibility, and he should not be the head, but our collaboration should make sure the family is okay. I escorted my husband to the world’s anti-slavery convention immediately after our wedding. It was part of my ambition to make sure the men who had excluded themselves from the tradition heard our voices from the outside. Therefore I was there to join the other women to make our voices heard in the convention.
After the convention, we returned to America, and we had seven children in whom I tried to instil into them that men and women are the same and equal. We settled in Seneca Falls, where we had our family and raised our children as my husband continued with his law practice and furthered his studies.
I planned the Seneca Falls convention, which happened in July 1848, with the help of Lucretia Mott. Seneca Falls way was one of my most outstanding achievements as it made me voice my concerns about women’s rights in a transparent manner. It also had a lot of positive impact concerning the rights of women at that time. Seneca Falls convention was one of my best times as we pushed for women to vote.
During the civil war, I focused on abolishing slavery but later, I got into promoting women’s rights. In the year 1868, I worked with Anthony of the revolution, a weekly militant paper, and it had a positive impact on promoting women’s rights. In 1869 the two of us Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and I held the president’s position until 1890. In 1890 we also merged with another group, and we formed the National American Woman Suffrage Association, which I served as the president for two years.
It was a journey characterized by challenges and several issues. Still, I managed to live through it all and fought for women’s rights, which I have always been fond of preaching and informing the world that men and women are not different as some people teach.
Yours sincerely,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
