Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, And Susan B. Anthony Were All Leaders Of The
Early Women’s Rights Movement. Select One Of These Women And Discuss Her
Contribution To The Movement And The Difficulties She Encountered Essay, Research Paper

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, and Susan B. Anthony were all leaders of the

early women’s rights movement. Select one of these women and discuss her

contribution to the movement and the difficulties she encountered.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was born November 12, 1815, in Johnstown, New

York. She was the fourth of six children. Later she would meet and marry Henry B.

Stanton, a prominent abolitionist. Together they would have seven children.

Although Elizabeth never went to college she was very learned in Greek and

mathematics. During her life, Elizabeth was a very important person to the

women’s rights movement. This paper will present to you the difficulties she

encountered and her major contributions.

Nothing is easy when you are trying to change the opinion of the world.

In the nineteenth century it was only harder if you were a woman. Elizabeth

Stanton not only faced opposition from the outside world but also from those

closest to her. After her only brother died she tried to please her father by

studying and doing the things that her brother had done. Her father’s response

was that he wished she had been a boy. Her high hope of working with her husband

to abolish slavery was shattered when she was not allowed to enter into the

conventions. She, as a woman, was told to keep silent and to do her work quietly.

Who better than her husband, who champions the rights of black people, should

understand and applaud her work. However, that was not the case. During the

Seneca Falls convention that she had organized, her husband left town rather

than witness here propose the idea of women’s suffrage to the group. When she

lectured she was often booed and hissed at. She suffered much at the hands of

the media. The only support that she ever received was from her fellow

suffragists. This did not stop her from continuing her work and becoming an

integral part to the early women’s rights movement.

With seven children and an entire household to manage, Elizabeth Cady

Stanton somehow found time to help found the women’s rights movement. Her

contributions were considerable. After attending an abolitionist convention in

London she decided to concentrate her work on the rights of women. Her first

cause was that of Divorce. She believed that people ought to be able to obtain a

divorce on any grounds. She also championed the married women’s property act.

Perhaps one of her greatest contribution she had was the Seneca Falls convention.

There she helped draft the Declaration of Sentiments. This was a list of twelve

items that were unfair to women. The twelfth, concerning women’s right to vote,

would probably have not been included if it was not for Elizabeth. She later

published the Women’s Bible in two volumes. These books refuted the idea that

God had set man to rule over women.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton worked hard for a thankless task. She received

opposition from every where, even the women whom she was championing. She never

saw the results of the fire that she lit. There is no doubt that the women’s

rights movement would have started without her but it would probably not have

started when it did. It would also have lacked some of its fire. Without

Elizabeth Cady Stanton we might not have some of the rights that we enjoy today.

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