Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Declaration of Sentiments. Women's History Month Day 24
UPDATE. The Declaration of Sentiments, modeled after the Declaration of Independence was presented at the first Women's Rights Convention at Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. It was a list of grievances & hardships faced by women - much like the Declaration of Independence was a list of grievances against the King Of England
A fervent Abolitionist with a family background in law, she attended an Anti-Slavery convention in London with her husband, Henry Stanton & was mortified at the lack of women.
Like legislators of today, when a proposed Bill doesn't go far enough or sometimes goes too far, Elizabeth Cady Stanton recognized the egregious omission of Women from the 15th Amendment that formally granted the Right to Vote to Freed MEN.
Stanton believed in UNIVERSAL RIGHTS for ALL people regardless of Gender or Race, including the Right to Vote.
Interestingly enough, it was Voting Rights that became the sticking point.
"A well-educated woman, Stanton married abolitionist lecturer Henry Stanton in 1840. She, too, became active in the anti-slavery movement and worked alongside leading abolitionists of the day including Sarah and Angelina Grimke and William Lloyd Garrison, all guests at the Stanton home while they lived in Albany, New York and later Boston.
While on her honeymoon in London to attend a World’s Anti-Slavery convention, Stanton met abolitionist Lucretia Mott, who, like her, was also angry about the exclusion of women at the proceedings. Mott and Stanton, now fast friends, vowed to call a woman’s rights convention when they returned home. Eight years later, in 1848, Stanton and Mott held the first Woman’s Rights convention at Seneca Falls, New York. Stanton authored, “The Declaration of Sentiments,” which expanded on the Declaration of Independence by adding the word “woman” or “women” throughout. This pivotal document called for social and legal changes to elevate women’s place in society and listed 18 grievances from the inability to control their wages and property or the difficulty in gaining custody in divorce to the lack of the right to vote. That same year, Stanton circulated petitions throughout New York to urge the New York Congress to pass the New York Married Women’s Property Act."
In today's world, WOMEN still NEED Ratification of the #EqualRightsAmendment, the reauthorization of the #ViolenceAgainstWomenAct of 1994 PLUS a #HateSpeechBill to protect WOMEN from #HateSpeech at the #Grammys AND the #Oscars
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