Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902) was an American social activist, abolitionist, and leading figure of the early women's rights movement along with Susan B. Anthony. 

Her Declaration of Sentiments is often credited with initiating the first organized women's suffrage and women's rights movements in the United States.

 Personal life 
Stanton received a very good education. That was not common for women during that time. She married Henry Stanton, who fought against slavery, and they had seven children. 

 Activism 
Stanton became interested in women's rights when she was at a World's Anti-Slavery meeting in London. She and Lucretia Mott, another activist, were upset because women were not allowed to be a part of the meeting. Because of this, they created their own women's rights meeting.

 Seneca Falls Convention 
See the main article: Seneca Falls Convention

The first meeting was in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York. Stanton wrote and signed The Declaration of Sentiments, which was about needed changes. The rest of the activists at the meeting signed it too.

The activists wanted women to have the right to vote. They also wanted men and women to be equals within society.

 Petitions 
Stanton continued to fight for women's rights by spreading petitions throughout New York. These petitions were meant to push the New York Congress into passing the New York Married Women's Property Act.

 Writings 
In 1851, Stanton met Susan B. Anthony, another famous activist. Stanton and Anthony worked together for a very long time. Together they wrote speeches, articles, and books. Stanton and Anthony were leaders of the women's rights movement for more than fifty years.

Stanton and Matilda Gage wrote the Declaration or Rights. That was presented by Susan B. Anthony at the Philadelphia Centennial in 1876. 

 President of NWSA 
Stanton traveled around the country and position as president of the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA). During her travels she spoke about current social issues having to do with women's rights. Some of the issues were divorce laws and raising children.

 Later years 
In her later years, Stanton was still politically active, although she didn't travel as much. With Anthony and Gage, she wrote books called the History of Woman Suffrage from 1881 to 1885. She also published the Woman's Bible. She wrote a book about her life called Eighty Years and More. 

Stanton died in 1902 in New York City, only eighteen years before the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave women the right to vote.
References

Other websites

 Elizabeth Cady Stanton House from the United States National Park Service
 Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony by Ken Burns from PBS
 Elizabeth Cady Stanton's obituary from The New York Times
 Stanton's Family Memorabilia  from Women's eNews
http://www.nps.gov/wori/historyculture/elizabeth-cady-stanton.htm
http://www.nwhm.org/education-resources/biography/biographies/elizabeth-cady-stanton/ 
http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/resources/ecsbio.html 
http://infidels.org/library/modern/john_murphy/stanton.html
http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/ww/stanton.html

Category:1815 births
Category:1902 deaths
Category:Deaths from heart failure
Category:American activists
Category:American abolitionists
Category:American civil rights activists
Category:American feminists
Category:People from New York (state)