The Women's Rights Movement: Elizabeth Cady Stanton

The woman's rights movement was enacted to secure the legal, economical, and social equality of women. It first began in 1848 with Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She presented her famous keynote at the Seneca Falls Convention, worked with Susan B. Anthony, and had many important events.

The women's rights movement was evoked by many women, but it began with Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1848 at a women's rights convention in Seneca Falls. Lucretia Mott accompanied Stanton to New York. They discussed the social, civil, and religious conditions of women ("New World Encyclopedia"). Stanton organized a keynote address to deliver her demands, which included freedom, political representation for women, and the right to vote (Peacock Data).

This showed that both men and women cared about women's suffrage. Not everyone agreed with Stanton, though. She received a lot of criticism from the press after the meeting, but she believed that's what got men and women to take action (History Net). This proved that Stanton never gave up, and she continued to address her conditions at many important events.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton contributed many ideas and helped spread awareness of women's rights. She held and attended many events throughout her lifetime. One of her most important was the Seneca Falls Convention. Stanton's keynote contained twelve resolutions for women's rights (New World Encyclopedia). The most effective resolution was the ninth, which argued for elective franchise, the right for women to vote. This event was important because it introduced a new concept about women's rights to everybody (New World Encyclopedia). Women, and even men, became attentive and began to stand up for women's rights.

In 1851 Stanton met Susan B. Anthony and departed on a speaking tour around the west in 1871 (Smith). This tour helped spread the message of women's suffrage. Without Stanton and Anthony's friendship, there would not have been as much of an influence.