The Impact Of Elizabeth Cady Stanton On The Women's Rights Movement

Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s affect on the Women’s Rights Movement

The fight for women's rights is still going strong around the world, with the United States being one of the leading countries promoting women's rights and gender equality. But what about the women and men who pioneered the fight for women's rights in the US? One extremely influential figure in the fight for women's rights, particularly women's suffrage, was Elizabeth Cady Stanton, daughter of famous New York supreme court judge Daniel Cady, and later wife to Henry Brewster Stanton, American abolitionist, social reformer, attorney, journalist, and politician. Stanton pioneered the beginning of the feminist movement, making many believe her to be aligned with Great Man Theory.

On July 19th and 20th of 1848, Hundreds of women and men alike gathered in Seneca Falls, New York for the first ever women's rights convention. Many consider the women's rights convention at Seneca Falls to trigger the start of the women's right movement, and while the convention was organized by many activists, it was led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton along with fellow activist Lucretia Mott. Along with this, a document written by Stanton, which she presented at Seneca Falls, called The Declaration of Sentiments, is considered the launching point for the women's rights movement. Seneca Falls was a key starting point for women's rights activism, but Stanton also helped secure women's rights in many other ways during her

During her career, Stanton helped circulate and publicize petitions that secured a bill that granted married women property rights in 1848. Along with this, Stanton was the Founder and President of the National Woman's Suffrage Association (NWSA) which urged for women’s voting rights and after Stanton's lifetime, that goal was accomplished. Although Congress didn’t actually pass the 19th amendment until 1920, 18 years after Stanton’s death, she was recognized for her contributions to the movement. For instance, a 1948 US postage stamp featured Stanton, Mott, and Carrie Chapman Catt and said “100 years of progress of women”, along with this, Stanton and other influential women in the women's rights movement are featured on a US 10$ bill. By acknowledging Stanton's work towards this goal in such a large way, we can tell how influential her work was and that without it, women’s suffrage may not have been achieved until much later. Althought this impact cannot be solely attributed to Stanton, there are things that can be. For example, In 1854 she was invited to address the New York Legislator and during this visit, her speech was so impactful that it resulted in married women gaining the right to wages and equal ownership of their children. Stanton was also the first ever female candidate for the US